The Hidden Past
by Maishika Shiori
Summary: She came to Konoha with nothing. No belongings, no name, and no pulse. After being treated by the doctors of the hidden leaf she regained conscienceness, but not her memory. Can her new friends help her unlock her past? Can she find her place in the world
1. Ch 1: What's in a Name?

She came to Konoha with nothing. No belongings, no name, and no pulse. After being treated by the doctors of the hidden village, she regained conscienceness, but not her memory. Can she find her place in the world? Can her new-found friends help her piece together what she's lost?

----------

The first thing she heard was a steady beeping sound. She tried to move, but her body wouldn't respond. Then she became aware of the immense pain, like her entire body was on fire. Then she heard voices, muffled as though being heard through water.

"Shizune, what's the patient's condition?"

"Stable, but barely. I'm just worried her heart will stop again."

"What the hell happened anyway? Who is she?"

"We don't know, Tsunade-sama. A guard heard a commotion, and when he went to investigate, he found her like this. She was dead when he found her, but we managed to revive her. I still don't know if she'll make it though."

"But who is she?"

"No one knows. She has no identification, so we'll have to wait until she wakes up to ask her... If she makes it, that is."

The steady beeping sound quickened until it became one long, shrill tone.

"We're losing her!"

Then she heard no more as she sank back into deep blackness.

---------------

_There's that annoying beeping again_, she thought. Once more she tried to move, and, to her surprise, her hand responded with a weak twitch. She opened her eyes and let out a soft groan as the light shot needles of pain through her head. She blinked a few times as her eyes slowly adjusted, and she made out the fuzzy shape of a dark-haired, female someone standing near her with their back to her.

"Where...am I?" she said groggily. The figure turned around quickly to face her, relief evident in her face, before calling out, "Tsunade-sama!"

"Uhn, not so loud," the girl groaned, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment as the loud sound bombarded her ears. A tall, blonde woman rushed in to join the dark-haired one.

"Oh, good, she's awake," she smiled.

"Where am I?" the girl repeated. She looked down and let out a gasp when she saw bloody bandages covering much of her body.

"What the hell happened to me?!" she exclaimed, sitting up. She let out a strangled cry and fell back down at the excruciating pain that followed this abrupt movement.

"Calm down and try not to move for awhile. Your body still needs time to get used to being awake. You've been in a coma for almost a week," the blonde explained.

"I'm Shizune, and this is Tsunade-sama. Can you tell us what happened?" asked the dark-haired one, now identified as Shizune.

"I don't... I can't remember," the girl responded, sounding surprised.

"That's okay," the blonde, Tsunade, said. "Can you tell us your name?"

"Of course I can. It's... it's... I know it... Oh, God, I don't remember my own name!" she exclaimed in panic.

"What _do_ you remember?" Tsunade asked. She wracked her brain until it hurt and cried out, "Nothing! I don't remember anything!"

"Your body has gone through tremendous trauma. We were all expecting you wouldn't make it. Your memories may still return to you, but it will probably take time," Tsunade explained. The distressed girl nodded dully in understanding.

"Can-can you help me to the bathroom, I want to see a mirror," she asked meekly. Shizune shook her head and told her that she was in no condition to move, but she would get her a hand-mirror. Tsunade asked her if she needed anything and she responded crossly, "Do I have permission to sit up, or is that not allowed either?"

Tsunade gave her an exasperated look and hit a button on the bed that raised it until she was in a sitting-up position. When Shizune returned with the mirror, she took it, mumbling, "Arigato."

She took a deep breath and looked at her reflection. She had silvery-white hair just past her shoulders, pale skin, and light violet eyes. She tore her gaze away as tears began falling down her cheeks.

"I don't know her," she whispered sadly.

-----------------

A week later she was well enough to walk around, as long as she stayed within the hospital grounds. Her injuries made it so walking was still painful, but she managed. She had also cheered up some since she had come to grips with her identity, or lack thereof.

"Hey, feeling better?" one of the nurses asked her as she walked around the grounds one day.

"Hi, Ami. I guess so. Still nothing upstairs though," she shrugged, tapping her head. After a bit, the wounds on her legs started to hurt, so she headed back. Inside, she encountered quite a scene.

"Naruto, get back here! You can't leave yet! Your arm is fractured in _three_ places, dammit!" yelled an exasperated nurse chasing a blonde boy of about thirteen, who shouted, "I'm fine! My arm's fine! I gotta go train so I can-_ack_!"

He let out an undignified yell as two of the doctors that were chasing him tackled him to the ground. As they dragged him away, protesting and trying to get free, she smiled, the soreness in her legs forgotten. She decided to follow him, having nothing else to do, and see why he was so eager to leave. She entered his room to see him being handcuffed to the bed.

"Oh, hi," the doctor doing the handcuffing said to her, "I need to go do my rounds, so could you just watch Naruto and make sure he doesn't leave?"

"Yeah, sure. I just came to see what all the fuss was about."

"Arigato," he thanked her, leaving them alone. She turned to him and asked, "So, what's so important that you can't even wait for your arm to heal?"

"Training! I have to become as strong as I can so I can become Hokage!"

"So, you're a ninja?" she inquired. He nodded and grinned proudly, "Yep, that's me. Uzamaki Naruto, number one ninja!"

"I see," she laughed. He was funny. "So how'd you bust your arm?"

Naruto laughed sheepishly, putting his non-handcuffed hand behind his head. "Heh-heh, I was on a mission and I got careless while fighting this guy and I sorta fell off a second-story building."

"Nice," she grinned and they both laughed. Naruto stopped laughing and pointed at her leg. "Uh, you're bleeding."

She looked down and saw that one of the longer gashes on her leg was bleeding through her bandages. She swore and hit the call button to summon a nurse.

"My goodness, girl, what have you done to your poor body this time?" asked the nurse, hands on her hips, when she arrived.

"I think I just need a new bandage. Sorry to bug you, Harumi-san," she apologized, wincing as Harumi lifted her leg a bit to remove the old bandages.

"You've split your stitches open. I'll have to redo them," she tisked. Her hand lighted with green chakra and she pressed it to the wound to numb it while she redid the stitching.

"There, that should hold. Now, let me check the other leg."

She did and deemed them satisfactory. "Okay, now let's see the ones on your chest."

She sighed and tugged the collar of her hospital shirt down a bit so Harumi could check the stitching on her left collarbone.

"M'kay, this one's fine. Lemme check the ones on your back and I'll be done," she promised. The newly patched up girl turned around with a sigh so her back was to both Naruto and Harumi and undid the tie on the back of her hospital so that it gaped open in the back without falling off in the front.

"These one's are coming undone a bit, I'm just gonna re-stitch them so they don't break open like your leg."

Naruto just sat there, mouth agape, staring at the massive wounds crisscrossing her back. It looked like she had been whipped with a kunai over and over again. There were also two, no, _three_ places where it appeared she had been stabbed. Harumi finished up her work and said, "Feel better soon, girl. See ya' around."

"Hai, hai. Now go do your nurse thing," the nameless girl laughed

"What happened to you?" Naruto asked in awe. She let out a small chuckle. "Good question, Naruto-kun. Well, you saw the big slashes and the three stab wounds on my back, plus one more in the chest on my collarbone right?"

"Yeah, I saw that. Ouch," Naruto nodded.

"Then there's the big lump on my head where someone tried to tenderize my skull, a few dozen cuts and bruises on my arms and legs, and then this cool one," she said, pointing to the slash going from her right cheekbone, down her neck, and disappearing under her hospital gown.

"It goes all the way from my face to all the way down here," she continued, tracing a path over the gown to show that it continued from her neck, going diagonally across her chest, and ending just below her ribs on the left side. "That'll be one cool scar though," she laughed.

"_How_ did all this happen though?" he queried. She shrugged.

"Dunno."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" he demanded disbelievingly.

"I don't remember any of it," she shrugged.

"Wow, that sucks," Naruto said. "So, why do all the people here call you 'girl'?"

She explained her whole amnesia situation, which was the reason she had no name. Naruto was silent for a few moments. He suddenly jumped to his feet with a look of inspiration on his face, forgetting about the handcuffs restraining him and falling over onto the bed. He sat back up, blushing, and said, "Okay, first off, I officially hate these cuffs. Secondly, you need a name."

She smiled widely as Naruto looked at her with a look of over-exaggerated concentration.

"You look like a...let's see... um... Kiyoko! Your name is now Kiyoko."

"Kiyoko," she said, trying out the name, "I like that. Kiyoko."

She giggled. The name sounded just right on her tongue. It was like a part of her had been filled, a small part, but a part of her nonetheless.

"My name is Kiyoko," she said happily.

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Well, that concludes the first chapter of this story. This story is going to be 10 chapters long. There won't be any 'romance stuff' in this one, the theme of this one is friendship and loyalty and all that junk. If I get enough good reviews by chapter 10, I'll do a sequel.

Next Chapter: "The Ninja and the Kunai"


	2. Ch2 The Ninja and the Kunai

Kiyoko was bored. Really bored. She laid in her bed and stared at the ceiling. Since Naruto had been released a couple days ago, she had no one to talk to. As her body healed, Kiyoko became more restless every day. She wanted to get out and explore the town, meet the people, and search for clues as to where she came from.

"Oi, Kiyoko!" came a voice from the window, pulling her from her daydreams. It was Naruto, hanging upside-down and tapping on the glass for her to let him in. Kiyoko smiled widely and opened the window, relieved to have some company.

"Hey, Naruto. What's up?" she asked.

"Jiraiya-senin gave me the day off, so I thought I'd drop by," he answered.

"Well, I'm glad you did. It's so incredibly boring here," Kiyoko laughed. Naruto grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the door.

"Then let's go! I'll give you the official tour of Konoha," he said. Kiyoko wondered if he was always this hyperactive.

"I'm supposed to stay here, though," she pointed out.

"Don't worry, you'll be back before they even notice you're gone."

"Well, I have been wanting to explore the town a bit-"

"-Then it's decided, we're playing hookey!"

* * *

"And this is were they make the best Ramen in town," Naruto explained an hour later, insisting that they stop and eat there. _This sure beats the hospital food_, she thought. A girl about their age with light pink hair walked in. Naruto waved enthusiastically and called out, "Sakura-chan, come meet my new friend!"

"Congratulations, Naruto, you got a girl to talk to you," she smirked. "Hi, I'm Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Sakura-chan. I'm Kiyoko. Just Kiyoko."

"Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but I helped her escape from the hospital," he whispered. Sakura raised and eyebrow in question. Kiyoko blushed and explained, "I needed to get outta there for awhile. I've been cooped up in there for over a week."

"She has imesia," Naruto added. Sakura rolled her eyes. "_Am_nesia, dobe. Not imesia. Well, I gotta go train with Tsunade-sama now. See you around, Kiyoko. Hope you're better soon."

"Arigato. Bye, Sakura-chan."

Naruto took her around town, showing her the ninja academy, the stone Hokage monument, and finally the training grounds. "This is where I spend most of the day training," Naruto explained proudly.

"Cool. Can you show me some of your moves?"

"Yeah, sure! I'll show you the easy stuff first," he said. "This is a kunai. You use it for throwing or just fighting."

He pointed to a series of targets nailed to some posts. "Watch this."

He threw one of his kunai and it hit the target near the middle. Then he took out two kunai and threw them at the same time, and only one missed the target. He took out three more.

"Betcha I can get three bulls eyes," he bragged. Kiyoko laughed and rolled her eyes. He threw them, but his aim was off. Two of them dug into the wood of the target, but the third ricocheted off and bounced back towards Naruto's head.

She didn't have time to think, her body reacted automatically. She leapt in front of her friend and snatched the weapon out of the air while doing a catlike twist to avoid landing on any sore parts of her body.

"Holy shit! How'd you do do that?! That was a totally ninja move!"

"I don't know," Kiyoko answered in amazement. She was as surprised as Naruto. "I just... did it. I didn't even think about it."

She thought for a moment. "Hey Naruto, let me see a few of those kunais."

He handed them to her with a questioning look. As she gripped the blade in her pale hand, she felt a sense of familiarity. Then all of a sudden, a single memory flashed through her like lightning. _I'm a shinobi_. She threw all five of the kunai Naruto had given her. They all hit the center of the target.

"Naruto," she said softly, then exclaimed "I'm a ninja! I remember!"

"Really? That's great! What else do you remember?"

"That's all I remember. I don't know what village I'm from or where I was trained, but I remember how to throw kunai and shuriken, mold chakra, and do jutsus too!" Kiyoko exclaimed happily. She had found a missing piece of herself. Suddenly inspired, she quickly formed a series of hand seals. She concentrated all her chakra into her right hand and slammed it down onto the ground, releasing all her chakra at once into the earth.

"_Doton: Maruishi Tounyuu_!" ('Earth Element: Boulder Throw')

Half-a-dozen or so basketball-sized boulders exploded from the ground. Kiyoko used her left hand to raise them up into the air and hold them there for a moment before releasing them at the targets. They hit in an explosion of dirt and gravel. When the dust cleared, Naruto was sitting on his ass on the ground, eyes wide in amazement.

"That...was...so...COOL!" he shouted. "That was the coolest earth jutsu I've ever seen!"

Kiyoko was silent. She just stared at the destroyed targets. _Holy shit. Did I do that? That was definitely not a genin level technique. Where did I learn that?_

"Kiyoko? Yoo-hoo, earth to Kiyoko," Naruto said, waving his hand in front of her face. She shook her head and looked up at Naruto with an innocent smile. "I sorta made a mess, didn't I?"

The targets were nothing but a pile of splintered wood, and the ground was torn up and littered with rock fragments. Both their faces and clothes were brown with earth, but Kiyoko couldn't help but feel pleased with the destruction before her. She felt powerful. She felt satisfied. She felt invincible."

"I've been looking all over for you," came the angry voice of Tsunade from behind her. She felt busted.

"Naruto, what did you _do_?" she demanded, indicating to the aftermath of Kiyoko's jutsu. Naruto shook his head vigorously and protested, "I didn't do this!"

"Then who did?" Tsunade asked, not believing him. Naruto opened his mouth and closed it, trying to think up an explanation so he didn't have to snitch on Kiyoko. "Well, uh, you see-"

"It was me," Kiyoko interjected, looking down at her feet. She explained to Tsunade what happened, and the Fifth Hokage smiled slightly when she finished. "I had been trying to find you so I could tell you that you're healed enough to be released from the hospital. My plan was to have you find a job so you could have something to occupy your time until your memories return. However, this is quite an advanced earth jutsu, at least C-rank. I think it would be better to place you on a team as an official shinobi of Konoha. Is this something you would be interested in?"

Kiyoko answered by tackling the fifth Hokage with a hug. "Thank you so much, Tsunade-sama! I won't let you down!"

"Okay, okay, enough of that," Tsunade laughed. "There's still a problem of housing. We're still in the process of rebuilding much of the town, so vacant apartments are in a bit of a short supply right now."

"She can stay with me!" Naruto exclaimed, wrapping his arm around Kiyoko's shoulder. He gave Tsunade an adorable, pleading look. The blonde senin thought for a moment. "Well, I don't see any harm in it. However, I will be sending someone to check up on you every once in a while."

"_Yes!_" shouted both youths at once.

"C'mon, let's go and get you moved in," Naruto suggested, and the two rushed off towards town. Tsunade smiled knowingly. _If anyone can help you, Kiyoko, it's Naruto. He has a gift for helping people_. She teleported away in a flash, leaving the empty training ground looking like a war zone.

* * *

"Is this where you live or where you empty your garbage?" Kiyoko asked, almost serious as she entered Naruto's apartment. There were scrolls littering the floor, shuriken scattered here and there, and even some stuck into the walls. Empty bowls, garbage, and god knows what else covered the room in a thick blanket. 

"Heh-heh, both?" he laughed. "It's kinda messy, but it's still an apartment."

"Oh, is that what you call it?" she laughed. "So where do I sleep?"

"There's a guest room, but we'll have to clear all my junk out of it," he explained. Kiyoko nodded. "Well, it's noon right now. If we get started, we can probably get this place cleaned in time for dinner."

Ignoring Naruto's protests, Kiyoko set them to work cleaning. She was surprised when they finished in only a few hours. Then they celebrated by going out for ramen.

"Hey, Naruto," Kiyoko said. He looked up from his third bowl and replied, "Yeah?"

"I need clothes. I can't keep borrowing off you," she pointed out, indicating to the black shirt and bright orange pants she was wearing. The pants were a bit too big and looked horribly baggy on her thin figure. "Is there anywhere I can do some work for a bit of money?"

"You could try going around and see if anyone needs some help with some odd jobs or something. That's what I usually do," he suggested. Kiyoko nodded and got up, telling her friend that she'd be back home by dark, but not to wait up for her. She stopped at a few little shops, but none of them needed any help. Then she finally had some luck at a small flower shop.

"Hello, welcome to Yamanaka Flowers, what can I help you with?" asked a young blonde girl. Kiyoko walked up to the counter. "I was wondering if you needed a spare hand. I'm new in town, and I just got released from the hospital, so I need a job."

"Actually, you came at just the right time. My father and brother are off on a mission for two or three weeks, so we're a bit short here," she explained. "When can you start?"

"Right now, I guess. Arigato," Kiyoko answered, giving her a polite bow. _Wow, that was easy._

"By the way, my name's Ino. Yamanaka Ino," she introduced herself.

"I'm Kiyoko. Just Kiyoko," she said. Ino was tempted to ask about her lack of family name, but didn't. She eyed the fresh scars and the somewhat painful, distant look in her eyes and shivered. _This girl's had a hard life, if she doesn't want to tell me, I won't ask_, she decided. "Okay, first off, I'll have you help me unload the new shipment of flowers."

Kiyoko was happy to have a fellow female to talk to as she worked. They discussed girl things like hair and makeup, plus shinobi stuff like how to do complicated jutsus without wasting your chakra. She slowly revealed to her new friend how she came to be in Konoha. Ino was good about not asking questions that she might not be able to answer, and Kiyoko was thankful.

"So, what kind of techniques do you use?" Kiyoko asked as they arranged flower pots for display. Ino wiped her hair from her face, smearing dirt across her forehead, before answering, "Well, I like to stick to the basic stuff. You know, just keep it simple. My clan has a specialty jutsu, though. It's called the 'Mind Switch Technique'. I can project my mind into my opponent's body."

"Wow, that's pretty sweet. I guess I have a knack for earth element jutsus. I remember how to do those, so I assume that's what I use the most," Kiyoko laughed. "Well, I have plenty of time to figure that out. Tsunade-sama is going to assign me to a team tomorrow. I can't wait to meet them."

"You'll have to let me know who you're with when you come in tomorrow," Ino stated. "It's about time to close up shop. After we're done here, we can take you shopping. Orange is _definately_ not your color."

They both laughed, and Kiyoko agreed wholeheartedly. The orange made her pale skin look sickly. Ino brought her to a store called 'Shinobi Outfitting and Weaponry'. She explained that it was the perfect place to get clothes designed for ninjas, but still looked good. Inside, there was a girl of about fifteen hanging garments on racks. She had a Chinese style outfit with a pink top and green bottoms. Her dark hair was done up in two buns at the top of her head.

"Hey, Ino. You out of shuriken already?" she asked. Ino shook her head. "Hey, Tenten. This is Kiyoko. She needs clothes so she can give Naruto his ugly pants back."

Tenten took her measurements. "Okay, you're 5'1" and pretty thin, so we'll need to find something in a size small or extra-small. That would be these racks over here. The dressing rooms are back there. Call me if you need any help."

Ino helped Kiyoko sift through the possibilities. The only easy part was the standard fishnet undershirt; all she had to do was pick a size. Upon Ino's suggestion, Kiyoko tried on a pair of formfitting black pants. They went to just below her knees, and were a bit like leggings, but thicker. She brought them up to Tenten at the counter and asked her if she could help her find a top to go with it.

"What's your fighting style?"

"Huh?" Kiyoko didn't understand the relevance of the question. Tenten clarified. "Well, if you're a close range fighter, then you'll want something that will offer some protection against attacks. If you fight by hiding in the shadows and using genjutsu or other distance attacks, you'll want something that will blend in."

That made sense. "Well, I guess I would be mainly close to mid range. I use earth element jutsus, so that could be any range really."

"Well, then I would suggest something with some armoring to it, but doesn't restrict your movement," Tenten suggested. She went over to the rack and pulled out a green, sleeveless turtleneck vest. It resembled the chuunin vests she'd seen, but it wasn't nearly as bulky. It fit more like a shirt. Tenten explained that the front was made of a tougher material that was harder to pierce, but could still be penetrated fairly easily by a kunai. "It's mostly to cushion against taijutsu hits. It takes the edge off the attack, but it doesn't make you invincible by any means."

"I like it. What do you think, Ino?"

"You should get it. It looks great on you," she encouraged. Kiyoko brought it up to the front and paid for her new outfit. It used up her entire day's pay, but it came with a full weaponry set that included kunai, shuriken, smoke bombs, and exploding tags. When the two girls left, it was dark out so they each went home. Kiyoko showed Naruto her new clothes, fixed them a quick dinner, and then went to bed. As she laid in bed, Kiyoko smiled as she thought of what would be happening the next day. _Tomorrow, I'll be an official ninja. I hope my team likes me._

* * *

**Shiori's note:** Here's some background info that might be helpful in understanding the story. 

**Extra info:** This takes place in Konoha over a span of one year, starting somewhere in the beginning of the timeskip. Kiyoko is about 15 years old (her exact age is unknown), and Naruto and co are 14 (yes, I'm messing with their ages because I don't want to write a story about immature 12 year old brats). XOXO, M. Shiori

**Next time:** Chapter 3- Meet the Team


	3. Ch 3: Meet the Team

Chapter 3: Meet the Team

Kiyoko was awake the moment the sun peeked over the Hokage monument. She quickly put on her new outfit, brushed through her hair, and tiptoed past Naruto's room into the kitchen. She fixed herself some toast and ate in a hurry. She left some breakfast on a plate for her friend along with a note explaining that she was going to go train for a few hours before meeting her new team. As she stepped outside, she took a deep breath of the cool, fresh air before gathering the chakra to her feet and leaping from rooftop to rooftop toward the training ground. Kiyoko laughed to herself when she saw that the area she'd destroyed had been cleaned up considerably. She was relieved to be alone. It gave her room to think.

_"Doton: Iwa Enbannage!"_ ('Earth Element: Rock Discus Throw')

Kiyoko made rapid frisbee-throwing motions with her arms, and as each arm lashed out a discus shaped, compacted plate of earth sprung up from the ground and hurled itself where she wanted it to go. Deciding not to obliterate anymore targets, Kiyoko instead made the rocks crash into each other. _This is pretty damn fun_, she decided with a delighted grin as she concentrated on timing each throw so that it would hit one of the other rock-discs. She completely lost her concentration, however, when a small figure leapt out of nowhere and snatched one right out of the air. The airborne discs fell to earth with a thump. She caught a glimpse of the thing just before it darted out of sight. It was a... dog?

"Good catch, Akamaru!" called a voice to her left. Kiyoko whirled to see the small, white puppy run up to a boy with shaggy, brown hair and two red fang tattoos below each eye and drop the prize at his feet.

"Sorry if I surprised you," the boy apologized. "He thought it would be fun to catch one of those rock thingies. I'm Inuzuka Kiba and this is Akamaru."

"That's okay, it's my fault for not sensing you guys. I'm Kiyoko."

"Nice to meet you, Kiyoko-chan. Do you mind if we practice with you?" asked Kiba. Kiyoko told him that that would be great. "It's kind of boring practicing alone."

She continued to fling out rock-discs, but not as many at once, so Kiba and Akamaru could leap up and destroy each one before it hit the ground. After awhile, they all took a break so that they could all catch their breaths and give their chakra a chance to replentish itself.

"You and Akamaru make quite a team," Kiyoko remarked. She'd been impressed at the way they knew exactly what the other was thinking and were able to plan their next move accordingly.

"Thanks. You were pretty good, too. Where'd you learn how to do that?" Kiba inquired.

"No clue. Your guess is as good as mine," she answered. Kiba tilted his head in question, mirroring Akamaru. Kiyoko was getting a bit tired of explaining it, but she told Kiba the whole amnesia story.

"Well that's... interesting. So you have no idea who tried to kill you?"

"Nope, nothin' in my noggin," she replied, rapping her knuckles on her head. Akamaru let out a series of barks, and Kiba laughed and scratched the back of the puppy's ear.

"He says that sometimes it's better not to remember, for knowing the past can sometimes be more painful that living in blissful ignorance. He also says that if you did have your memories, then we wouldn't have met and had such a fun time playing 'Kill the Frisbee'."

"My, what an insightful puppy," Kiyoko laughed. "Well I'm glad he had fun. I had fun, too."

Akamaru let out a happy _arf_ and ran off across the grounds, barking at something. Kiba sniffed the air once. "The Fifth is here. She's probably looking for you. Oh, and she has some nasty smelling medicine with her, too," he informed her. _Wow, all that from one sniff? He's like a friggin dog with opposable thumbs_. Sure enough, Tsunade appeared a moment later with a paper bag.

"Hi, Kiyoko. Naruto said you'd be here. I have a few things for you."

She pulled out a bottle of dark amber liquid and handed it to her. "I forgot to give this to you. I want you to take two teaspoons of it every day. It'll help with the soreness."

She then took out a headband with the Konohagakure leaf symbol on the metal plate. Beaming with happiness, Kiyoko tied it around her head and thanked Tsunade for her kindness. She looked hopefully and the blonde senin and asked, "Have you found me a team yet?"

"As a matter of fact, I have. They should be here any minute," she answered, looking around for said ninjas. Right on cue, a woman with curly brown hair and red eyes arrived, followed by a dark haired girl and a bushy haired boy with sunglasses. Kiba laughed, "Hey, looks like you're on my team!"

Tsunade nodded. "Yep, this is your new team. I have much business to take care of, so I'll leave you guy to get to know each other."

With that, she left in a swirl of leaves and a small _pop_. The red-eyed woman turned to her and said, "I'm your new sensei, Yuuhi Kurenai. This is Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata. I see you've already met Kiba and Akamaru."

"Yeah, we did a bit of training this morning. I'm Kiyoko."

"Glad to have you on the team, Kiyoko. How about we get to know one another over breakfast? Then we can start training," she suggested. Kiyoko's stomach growled in agreement and Kiba jumped up eagerly. "Free food? Let's go!"

"You might want to brush your clothes off. You're both filthy," Kurenai laughed. Kiyoko looked at her and Kiba's clothes. _Ah, the woes of using dirt as a weapon_. She did a few seals and the dirt jumped right off their bodies.

"Cool," Kiba remarked. "Now off to get some food!"

* * *

"So, did Tsunade-sama tell you guys about my... ah... _condition_?" Kiyoko asked, feeling that was something they needed to know if they were to be a team. Kurenai nodded. "She told me about it when she asked me if I was willing to add you to my team, and I told Shino and Hinata on the way over." 

That made things a lot easier. Kurenai changed the subject by asking, "Tell us a bit about your fighting style. The Fifth says that you specialize in earth element techniques, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right. I mold my chakra around the earth and rocks and use them as a weapon."

Kiyoko turned to Hinata and Shino, who seemed to not like talking, and asked, "So how about you two?"

"I use hand-to-hand taijutsu and my byakugan," said Hinata quietly. Shino pushed his glasses up and answered, "I use bugs."

"Bugs?"

Shino nodded and held up a hand. Hundreds of scurrying insects crawled over his hand. Kurenai gave him a warning look and reminded him that most resturants didn't appreciate swarms of insects crawling around. Shino nodded and the bugs immediately disappeared into his sleeve. "My clan can control insects," he explained. A waitress approached their table and took their orders. Kiyoko ordered a bowl of miso soup ((my favorite)), and the others ordered theirs. When it arrived, they all chimed in "Itadakimasu," and dug in. They talked for the remainder of the meal and got to know each other a bit better. Kiyoko learned that Hinata was incredibly shy, but opened up a bit with some encouragement. She asked her what the byakugan she mentioned was, and Hinata told her all about it. She found that Shino, while a bit creepy, was a very intelligent ninja. He was quiet, but not in a shy way like Hinata. He told her about how his insects lived inside of him and fed on his chakra, and in exchange they obeyed his commands in combat. Kiyoko found this somewhat disturbing, yet fascinating. She learned more about the Inuzuka clan as well. Kiba told her that canines were his clan's animal familiars, and that's why he could understand Akamaru and why he had such a keen sense of smell. Kiyoko was pleased with her new team, and could tell that they would work together perfectly.

"Well, let's not waste anymore time. We'll head over to the training grounds and see what you got, Kiyoko," said Kurenai.

"Hai, let's go," Kiyoko nodded.

* * *

"Okay, we'll set this up like a regular sparring match. Kiyoko, first you'll take on Shino. You'll have ten minutes, and after ten minutes we'll determine the winner. The winner will take on the next person and so on," the sensei explained. Kiyoko and Shino walked into the center and took their fighting stances. At Kurenai's signal, the match began. Shino sent a swarm of insects towards her and Kiyoko brought her hands up so that a wall of earth rose up to block the swarm. She leapt into the air. 

_"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"_ ('Fire Element: Phoenix Fire')

Shino expertly dodged the balls of flames coming towards him as Kiyoko attacked him from the air. She landed a few meters behind him and swore. _Kuso, I need to change tactics. His reflexes are quick, so that rules out any of my projectile attacks. If I go for a direct taijutsu offense, those bugs will be all over me and I'll be finished. I need to attack him directly, but not get too close_. She thought quickly. _Got it!_

"_Doton: Jishin!_" ('Earth Element: Earthquake')

She formed her seals and slammed her hands against the ground, concentrating as hard as she could to direct the attack at Shino. The ground shook and crumbled under Shino's feet. As he tried to jump out of the way, Kiyoko shouted, _"Iwa Kinbaku!"_ ('Stone Binding') and two tentacles of earth snaked up his legs and enveloped him until only his head was left uncovered.

"Winner, Kiyoko," Kurenai announced and Kiyoko immediately released her hold on her teammate. Shino walked up to her and bowed slightly. "You are a very talented fighter. I look forward to facing you in the future."

"Arigato," Kiyoko smiled. As Shino walked away, he added, "Be warned, though, now I know your capabilities, and a good attack only works against the same person once."

Kiyoko took that as a compliment. The next match, she faced Hinata and came very close to losing. That quiet girl could fight like a cornered tiger in taijutsu. Kurenai complimented Kiyoko on her use of earth barriers to block the attacks and told Hinata that she was greatly improving. She lost the next match against Kiba, however. Their Man-Beast jutsu had caught her completely off-guard when the cute little Akamaru had transformed into a snarling, feral clone of his owner.

"Winner, Kiba."

Kiyoko laughed when one of the beast clones turned back into Akamaru, who let out a happy, _"arf, arf!"_ and licked her face. "Thanks, Akamaru, I needed a bath."

After taking a quick break, they got back to work. As she worked on taijutsu with Hinata, Kiyoko took it upon herself to get to know her. She'd get the shy Hyuuga out of her shell if it killed her.

"So, maybe we can hang out at my place after this," Kiyoko suggested as she blocked Hinata's kick. "I'm sure my roommate wouldn't mind. Naruto seems to like company."

Hinata let her guard down in surprise for just a moment, allowing Kiyoko to land a soft blow to her side. She smiled lowered her voice. "You like Naruto, don't you?"

Hinata faltered again, giving Kiyoko another chance to break through her defenses.

"What makes you say that?" she stuttered. Kiyoko smiled. "Well, for one, you're blushing. For another, the only times I've seen you become distracted enough to let me hit you is when I've mentioned Naruto. You like him."

"Don't tell anyone," she whispered. Kiyoko nodded and didn't mention it further. They fell back into their regular rythem. Hit, kick, block, feign left, punch, dodge, repeat. They finally stopped when they were both sweaty and exhausted. They both fell back on the cool grass and laughed.

"I really need to work on my taijutsu," Kiyoko chuckled. Hinata nodded. "Yeah."

The next month went by in a flash. The team would train every day, then Kiyoko would head over to Yamanaka Flowers and work. When Ino's brother and father came back from their mission two weeks later, Kiyoko was sad to leave the flower shop. However, she was making money from missions now, so she didn't need the extra money. She still hung out with Ino every day after training. Kiyoko, Ino, Hinata, Kiba, and Naruto soon became regulars to Icharaiku Ramen, where they all gathered after training. They were an inseperable group of friends, and after a while, Kiyoko no longer cared if she ever regained her lost memories. She was completely content with her new life.

After a hard day of training, four months after Kiyoko first arrived in Konohakagure, Kurenai made an exciting announcement.

"This year's chuunin selection exam is coming next month. Due to the disasterous outcome of last year's final exam, the test will be in Konoha again. You guys are as kick-ass of a team as you've ever been, so I have no doubts that you'll all do fantastic," she told them. Kiyoko's heart rose with excitement. She vowed to practice twice as hard during the next month.

* * *

"Naruto-kun." 

_Poke, poke._

"Naruto-kun, wake up, you lazy butt."

_Poke, poke, poke._

"C'mon, you promised to help me work on my new jutsu," Kiyoko reminded the sleeping blonde. When her continued poking didn't work, she threatened to not treat him to ramen afterwards. He grumbled angrily and sat up. They arrived at an empty field outside of town. Kiyoko's newest jutsu wasn't perfected yet, so it was still dangerous for any bystanders.

"Ready, Naruto-kun?" she called out. Naruto gave her the thumbs up and created several kage bunshin for Kiyoko to use as her practice dummies. She did her hand seals, taking a steadying breath, before balling her hands into fists and punching them into the ground.

_"Doton: Iwa Katana Tebukuro!"_ ('Earth Element: Stone-Blade Glove')

Earth and rocks swirled around her fists and continued up to her forearms. The earth around her hands lengthened and formed needle-like blades protruding out almost two feet. She concentrated on hardening the spikes until they were as solid and unbreakable as steel. Then Kiyoko leapt high into the air and launched herself at the kage bunshins. She skewered one on each spike, and they disappeared with a small pop. With an almost untrackable speed, Kiyoko quickly speared the remainder of the clones.

"More clones, Naruto-kun! Hit me with all you got!"

"You sure? Well, you asked for it!"

Naruto smirked. _"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"_

Kiyoko's jaw dropped as a hundred clones appeared around her. _Show off_, she grinned. This would be fun. She launched her spike gloves like missiles, dispersing a couple shadow clones and freeing up her hands. Kiyoko began to spin around, creating a dust cloud to surround her. As the clones struggled to see her through the maelstrom of swirling earth, she shouted, _"Doton: Iwa Fubiki!"_ ('Earth Element: Rock Snowstorm')

About half of the clones dispersed as hundreds of rocks shot out at all angles from the cloud like bullets. When she released the dust barrier, the remaining fifty or so bunshins rushed at her. She used a combination of her Rock Discus and Boulder Throw to get rid of the them. When the last one disappeared in a puff of smoke, Kiyoko collapsed to the ground in sheer exhaustion, panting like a dog as she relearned how to breathe.

"You okay, Kiyoko-chan?" Naruto asked, leaning over her. She nodded. "Yeah, I'm completely out of chakra though. Man, that was intense, huh?"

Naruto nodded in agreement and told her, "That's the best you've done yet. I feel sorry for anyone who ends up facing you."

Kiyoko laughed and got to her feet stiffly. "C'mon, I need food."

"Ramen time!" Naruto cheered. The two headed over to Icharaiku, laughing and joking as all best friends do. Meanwhile across town, Kurenai and Tsunade were busy discussing Kiyoko.

* * *

"She's an amazing fighter. Her control over her earth jutsus is astounding," Kurenai said to the Fifth. "Most of her techniques are at a chuunin level. Some even jounin." 

"That is impressive. What are your thoughts on the exam next week?" Tsunade asked. The red-eyed jounin laughed. "She'll pass easily. No doubt about it. I have a feeling she already passed the exam back before she lost her memories."

"I agree. I've looked in on a few of her practice sessions with Naruto, and she's definately at a more advanced level that an ordinary genin," added Tsunade. She thought for a moment. "Kurenai-sama, what do you think about having her work with _them_ if and when she passes the chuunin selection exam?"

"Hm, it's definately something to consider," she agreed.

* * *

"Itadakimasu!" 

Kiyoko and Naruto devoured their ramen like ravenous beasts. Kiyoko was starving because of all the chakra she used up. Naruto just plain liked ramen.

"So, you excited for the exams?" Naruto asked. Kiyoko nodded eagerly. "That's why I've been straining myself so much. I want to be in top condition."

"I'm sure you'll pass. You're really good," Naruto assured her. Kiyoko smiled at the compliment and finished her ramen.

"See you later, Naruto. I'm going to go practice with the team," she informed him, leaving the money for the ramen on the table. As she ran out, Naruto called after her, "You're crazy! How can you want to train after this morning?"

Kiyoko, however, was long gone by then.

* * *

Woohoo! Another chapter. I love Christmas break. Hope you liked the fight scenes, they were fun to write. Thanks to **LittleAngel122493** and **AnimeKaiser** for reviewing! 

**Next time:** Chapter 4- The Chuunin Exam Part 1


	4. Ch 4: The Chuunin Exams Part 1

**Chapter 4: The Chuunin Exam Part 1**

Kiyoko arrived at the chuunin exams early. There were people from all over in attendence, but her own team was late. The young konoichi wasn't worried, she trusted her friends not to blow it. She turned to a boy on her right with odd, purple facepaint and a large object strapped to his back.

"This is taking forever. Shouldn't it have started already?" she asked in attempts at relieving her boredom. He smiled slightly. "First time taking this test?"

"Yeah," she answered. _As far as I know, anyway._ "I'm Kiyoko."

"Kankuro. Here's a bit of advice, since you're new. This whole test messes with your head, especially this first exam. You have to think beyond the obvious. Otherwise you'll be flattened."

The doors opened, and everyone flooded in. Kankuro smirked and said, "See you around, Kiyoko. If you make it past the first test, that is."

"Oh, I will. Don't you worry."

She was joined inside by her team. Hinata looked more nervous than ever, but Kiba and Shino seemed to be in good spirits. Kiyoko could hardly wait for the test to start. _Finally, a good challenge. Bring it on!_ Fortunately, the examiner arrived shortly and Kiyoko could relax.

"My name is Morino Ibiki. I'll be you examiner for the first test," said the scarred, slightly creepy man. He instructed them to all choose a number and sit in whatever seat they chose. Kiyoko drew a 47, which was near the center of the room. When everyone was seated, several chuunins passed everyone a paper. _A written test?! Man, I thought the first test would be a bit more exciting than this!_ The examiner explained the rules, which were simple enough. The test consisted of nine questions and would end 45 minutes after he signaled everyone to start. After that, the final question would be given. Everyone started out with ten points and lost one point for every question answered incorrectly. They would be monitored by the chuunins sitting around the room, who would be watching for anyone cheating. Each time caught cheating earned you a two point deduction. Anyone who loses all their points by being caught cheating or not answering a single question right would fail along with their team. Passing would be determined by their team's cummulative score.

"You may begin now."

Kiyoko flipped her test over. _Okay, all I have to do is answer as many as I can. We have a slight advantage because our team has four people. First question._

**The parabola, B, represents a shuriken's maximum throwing distance of the enemy ninja, A, from a height of 7 meters. Figure out the trait of the enemy ninja that can be observed from the ellipse formed by the shuriken, and determine the maximum throwing distance on flat ground. Explain you reasoning.**

_Yeah, I don't think so. Moving on._ The next question was a complicated code to decipher. She skipped that one. As Kiyoko read through the rest of the questions, she became increasingly nervous. _This is impossible! How is a genin supposed to be able to answer these!_ She took a quick breath and told herself to calm down. _Okay, there has to be a way to solve this. I'll just go over what I know. One, these questions seem to be made to be extremely difficult, if not impossible for a genin to answer. Two, the scoring system makes no sense. If this is such an important test, then it would be logical to fail someone immediately rather than just give them a two point deduction for cheating. That gives you five opportunities to cheat._ Then it came to her. Based on the difficulty of the test questions, the deduction system, and the way it was set up, Kiyoko deduced that the object was not to answere the questions corre to gather information without being discovered. In other words, cheat without getting busted. _But that must mean that someone in the room has the answers. They must have a few chuunins in the room with the answers._

"Number 27, eliminated!"

"What?!"

"You heard me. You were caught cheating five times.You and your team fail."

The team was kicked out. She risked a glance to her nearest teammate, Hinata. She saw that her byakugan was activated, which meant that she was right about the test. Hinata would never cheat without a damn good reason. All Kiyoko had to do was find a way to cheat. She saw Ino slump on her table. Kiyoko smiled, wondering who the victim of Ino's mind-switch was. _Knock it off and concentrate! You can solve this one, Kiyoko. Just think._ She felt her stomach drop when she realized that she had no jutsus even remotely useful for this particular task. Then she noticed a bee buzzing just outside the window and got an idea. Reaching into her pocket, Kiyoko took out a small pebble and placed it on her desk. She touched her finger to the stone and infused some of her chakra into it. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the chakra within the pebble, then dropped it to the floor. Kiyoko guided it across the floor to Shino's desk and made it jump up onto the surface. She twitched her finger to make the pebble run little circles around Shino's paper and hoped he could take a hint. He stopped the pebble's motions with his finger and began writing something. A minute later, one of Shino's bugs flew across the room and deposited a tiny, rolled up piece of paper on her desk. She unrolled it and quickly copied the answers onto her sheet. Then she wrote, "From Yoko," which was Naruto's nickname for her, on the back of the paper, rolled it back up, and gave it back to the insect.

"Give this to Naruto, and tell Shino I owe him one," she instructed the bug.

"Your forty-five minutes for the first nine questions are up," announced examiner Ibiki later. "This tenth question is the most important one on the entire first test. Before I give you the question, however, I have one thing to ask all of you: Will you answer the final question?"

"Of course we'll answer it!" called out a couple people, and Kiyoko agreed, but couldn't help thinking that there was more to this final question than he was letting on. The scarred examiner silenced the room. "This final question is the most important one. If you answer it wrong, you will lose all your points and your team will be banned from entering the chuunin selection exams next year, or any other year."

There was a murmur of protest and several people shouted their objections, saying that he couldn't do that or that it wasn't fair to put so much weight on one question.

"I can and I will, don't question my authority," he growled, and the room immediately fell silent. "I ask you again, will you answer the final question? Those who wish to forfeit now and lose all their points may raise their hands now."

For a moment, no one moved. Then a few people raised their hands. Kiyoko frowned at them, assured in her decision. _A true ninja faces life and death situations every day. If I can't brave one little question, then I deserve to stay a genin._ Once everyone who decided to give up had left the room, there was less than half left. Examiner Ibiki smiled.

"For all of you who remain," he addressed them. They all waited with bated breath. "Congratulations on passing the first test."

"What?!" Kiyoko found herself shouting, along with many other people. Ibiki explained that a ninja must learn to risk everything, including their life. Whether it be for the mission or for their comrades lives, no matter what the cost.

"So the test questions where completely pointless?!" asked someone.

"No. A ninja must also be skilled at gathering information without detection. The paper test was a way to weed out those too stupid to avoid being caught. Those of you who remain are both clever in retrieving information, and are willing to take the chances a ninja must take to complete a mission. I wish you the best of luck, though I know that I will be seeing many of you again next year. The next test will take place at sunrise tomorrow. Your senseis will inform you where to meet."

* * *

"So _that's_ why you guys wouldn't tell me about the test, you losers!" Kiyoko laughed at Icharaiku a few hours later. All three teams in her little circle of friends were present; her own team plus team Naruto and Sakura, and team Ino-Shika-Chou, even though Shikamaru was already a chuunin. 

"Yeah, that's right, Yoko. Gotta let the rookies figure it out on their own," Naruto told her.

"So what's the second part like?" asked Kiyoko.

"Well, if it's the same as last year, it's sort of like an extreme game of capture the flag meets death-trap survival. Each team gets either a Heaven scroll or an Earth scroll. The object is to get a pair of both scrolls by taking your opponent's and making it to the building at the center of the woods within the five day time limit," Kiba explained.

"Last year a team made it back in a few _hours_," said Ino. "It was that Gaara kid's team. We saw them take a team's scroll. He pulled some freaky sand move and the other team got so scared that they just gave them the scroll. Then they killed the whole team anyway!"

"No way, you're kidding!" Kiyoko gasped. Hinata shook her head and whispered "We saw him too. Akamaru said that the sand in his gourd smelled like blood."

"They're here again this year, too. So if you see anyone from that team, get outta there as fast as you can," advised a pudgy boy named Chouji from Ino's team. Kiyoko raised her cup. "Well, here's to the second test. May we all not die a horribly painful death."

They all laughed and raised their own glasses. "To living!"

"I say we make a truce," Sakura suggested. "Let's agree not to go after each other until the last two days of the challenge. After that, it's every team for itself."

"That's a good idea," Ino nodded, and the rest of the group agreed. Naruto laughed. "Wow, you two are actually getting along! It's a miracle!"

"Must be because there's no more Sasuke-kun for them to fawn over and come between them," Kiba said, making an exaggerated kissy-face, complete with sound effects. This earned him two punches in the head from the two girls. Sakura's strength training with Tsunade was obviously paying off, judging from the lump on Kiba's head. After a few more hours of joking around and talking, they all decided that they should all get home so they could get a good night's sleep.

"See you all at the buttcrack of dawn," Naruto called, waving to the group as he and Kiyoko headed off home. She remembered what that boy, Kankuro, had said before the exam. _This whole test messes with your head, especially this first exam. You have to think beyond the obvious. Otherwise you'll be flattened._ Kiyoko vowed not to let herself get flattened. No mere test was going to get the best of her.

* * *

"The test will start as soon as every team turns in their consent forms and recieves a scroll," announced Anko as the remaining test participants stood outside the gates of the 'Forest of Death'. The fact that they needed to sign consent forms in the first place was a bit disconcerting. They said that people died in this exam every year. It wasn't until now that Kiyoko realized the truth in this. She signed the form without hesitation anyway. She looked around and saw that many teams looked extremely nervous. The tension was driving her insane so she walked up to the closed gates with the sign saying, "WARNING: YOU MAY DIE," and placed her hands on her hips. "Bring it on, bitch! I'm not scared of some stupid forest!" 

The crowd laughed, and a couple even clapped. Kiba put her in a headlock and proceeded to give her a 'ninja-noogie' as he called it. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"Kiba! Lemme go!" Kiyoko laughed. The gates creaked open and their playful banter ceased immediately. She hugged Ino and Naruto, her two best friends in the world, and wished them and their teams good luck. "Promise you won't get killed."

"Stop worrying, Yoko," Naruto told her. "I'll see you in five days, m'kay?"

She nodded and sped off into the woods with her team. They leapt from branch to branch until they were a good kilometer from the gates before stopping.

"We need to lay out a strategy," Shino said. "We have 120 hours to find a team posessing a Heaven scroll to go with our Earth scroll, defeat them and take their scroll, and get to the tower without getting picked off by the other teams."

"We should avoid the tower until we have both scrolls," Kiba added. Kiyoko agreed and drew a large circle in the dirt to represent the gated area of the wood with an X in the center representing the tower and a squiggly line running through the circle for the river.

"If we still don't have a scroll by the fourth day, we should head to the area surrounding the tower and try to ambush the teams on their way to the tower. This would be more of a last resort, though, since there will be many teams with the same plan. We should stay within about one kilometer of the river, but no closer," she suggested. "The river is the only source of water, so every team will need to go there eventually. I think we should split into two groups and survey the teams we see to try and find one with a Heaven scroll. We don't want to waste time and chakra blindly attacking the first team we cross and then find out that they have an Earth scroll."

"I agree. We'll head over towards the river, find a place to meet, and then split up," Shino added. "Hinata, you'll go with me. I'll need your byakugan. Kiba, you go with Kiyoko. She'll need yours and Akamaru's noses."

They all nodded and leapt back into the treetops to begin their trek to the river.

"The river's nearby, we should stop," Hinata said half-an-hour later. They found a large pile of boulders they could use as their base of operation.

"Before we split up, we need to figure out a password," Kiyoko pointed out. "Don't trust anyone who doesn't know the password. They could be an enemy using a Henge no Jutsu. Here's the password."

She leaned in and whispered the code. Before they split, Shino held up a finger. On it was a small bug. "I'll leave one of these with you. If you need us, use it as a messenger to reach us. If we need you, I will send some of my insects to find you."

"How will we know they're yours and not just a regular swarm of bugs?" Kiyoko questioned. Kiba answered, "Me and Akamaru will both be able to smell the difference."

"Okay, we'll meet back here at sunset, agreed?"

"Hai, good luck."

Hinata and Shino disappeared into the foliage. Kiyoko turned to Kiba. "Let's get going."

"Hn. Akamaru, mark this area so we can find it again," he instructed his furry companion. Akamaru ran around and shot streams of pee at a few of the trees. Kiba tucked him in his jacket and sniffed the air a few times. He pointed north and said there was a team less than a kilometer in that direction. Minutes later, they spotted their targets. It was a group from the hidden rain.

"We need to figure out which scroll," Kiba whispered. "I say we wait for one of them to seperate from the others and detain them. You're better at Henge no Jutsu than me, so you'll transform into them and go find out which scroll they have."

"Good plan, but we don't have time to wait for one of them to get seperated. While they're filling their canteens, I'll make some kind of noise to hopefully get them to send one of the group to check it out," Kiyoko replied and Kiba nodded in agreement. Kiyoko took out a kunai and threw it so it knocked over a pile of rocks. They both let out a sigh of relief when one of the group went to investigate. They quietly crept across the tree branches until they were directly above the black haired rain-nin. Kiyoko gave Kiba a curt nod and they dropped on the unsuspecting boy with hardly a noise. Kiba gagged the shinobi with his own forehead protector and tied him to a tree with some of his wire. "I'll watch him, now hurry."

Kiyoko performed the transformation jutsu and became the mirror image of the struggling boy. She started to walk away, but stopped when she spotted a rabbit hiding amongst the leaves. She threw a kunai, killing it, and picked it up by the ears. Kiba gave her a questioning look, and Kiyoko whispered, "My cover story."

She jogged over to the two waiting rain-nins.

"What was it, Taro?" asked the taller of the two. _Taro, gotta remember that._ She held up the lifeless rabbit. "Breakfast."

"Good, I haven't eaten all day," laughed the short, skinny one. The tall one cuffed him in the head. "God, Eiji, you're such a damn pig. The sun hasn't even been up for two hours."

He turned to Kiyoko. "Why so quiet all of a sudden, Taro?"

_Shit._

"Just thinking about the test is all," she quickly lied. "I was thinking about what might be written on the scrolls."

"Yeah, it probably has to do with the third exam," suggested Eiji. "What do you think, Kioshi?"

Kioshi, who seemed to be the leader, shrugged and pulled a scroll out of his pocket. She kept her face as unrevealing as she could when she saw that it was the scroll of Heaven. Kioshi turned the scroll over in his hands, looking for some clue as to what was inside.

"Oi, lemme see that thing," Kiyoko said casually. Forget just observing possible targets, this was an absolutely perfect opportunity. Kioshi tossed her the scroll. She didn't waste a second in performing a series of seals and encasing them in her Iwa Kinbaku (Stone Binding) jutsu.

"What the hell, Taro?!" shouted Eiji. Kiyoko smirked and released her Henge no Jutsu. "Thanks for the scroll, boys. This Stone Binding technique will release itself as soon as me and my team are out of range. Your friend Taro is tied to a tree over there."

Kiyoko ran off to meet Kiba. She almost laughed as she heard the two rain ninjas cursing after her.

"Get back here, bitch! You'll pay for that!"

Kiba looked expectantly at her as she approached, but raised his kunai. "Password?"

"Know thy self to know thy enemy," she recited and Kiba lowered his weapon. "Did you find out what scroll they have?"

"Better," she grinned and pulled out the Heaven scroll. Kiba clapped her on the shoulder. "Great job! Let's find the others and get to that tower."

Once they were a good distance away, they stopped so Kiba could use his impeccable sense of smell to locate the other two.

"I got it. It's faint, but it's coming from the east."

"Hai, let's go."

A few kilometers later, Kiba stopped and started sniffing around on the ground. He looked up, confused. "They should be right here. I don't get it."

"Oh, they're here all right," Kiyoko stated. "Look up. How often do you come across two branches with chakra?"

"Ha, you're right. I didn't even think to sense for their chakra," Kiba laughed, looking up at the two branches in question. "Oi, Hinata-chan! Bug-Brain!"

The two said branches disappeared with a _pop_, and their two comrades dropped to the ground. Kiyoko held up a hand to stop them. "Password? Just to make sure."

"A shinobi has no fear of death," Shino answered, reciting their group's password. Kiyoko nodded and pulled out the acquired scroll.

"You guys got it already?" Hinata questioned.

"We were lucky to run across a group of rain village rookies," Kiba explained, then told them the whole story. They started for the tower, eager to get out of the forest. When they came across the river, they took a break. They were all hot and tired, and they had plenty of time. Kiyoko dunked her whole head in the cool, clear water and drank like a dehydrated camel. Her relief didn't last long, though. Akamaru growled and started barking.

"What is it, boy?" Kiba asked, sniffing the air. "Shit, we got company. Hinata, use your byakugan to try and see them."

"Hn. _Byakugan!_" Hinata looked around, then frowned. "I see them, over there in the trees. Mist nin. Two of them."

"Where's the third?" Shino questioned. Hinata shook her head. "I don't know. I don't see the third one anywhere."

"Stay sharp, guys. Number three is around here somewhere," Kiba instructed. They all took out their weapons, waiting. Kiyoko shifted impatiently and said, "Come on. Come out, come out where ever you-_GYAAAH_!"

She screamed as something grabbed her by the legs and hurled her into the air. It was a giant tentacle of water, coming from the river.

"Don't just stand there! Get me down from here!"

She didn't have to wait long, however. The water tentacle let go, flinging her through the air. Shino leapt up and caught her, depositing her safely to the ground. Just then, the two mist nin burst from the woods. The water tentacle shrunk and the third ninja rose up from the water.

"Give us your Earth scroll and you can walk away unharmed," said the one in the river. Kiyoko answered for the group by flicking them off and smirking, "Bring it on. You're not getting our Earth scroll."

"So be it."

The two others jumped into the river, and all three disappeared into the water. They were at a severe disadvantage as long as the mist ninjas had the river. Kiyoko swore when a huge wall of water rose up from the river and started rushing for them. Then she realized something.

"Stand your ground, it's an illusion!" she shouted, praying she was right. As the massive tidal wave dropped down, they all flinched but stayed where they were. The water passed through them like smoke and disappeared.

"How did you know it was a genjutsu?" Hinata asked.

"Summoning a tsunami is an A-level technique, way too advanced for someone taking this exam. Plus, if it was real, it would destroy the scroll as well as us."

"Very good, girl. You saw through our attack. You have the brains, but do you have the jutsus to defeat the best genin team in the Village Hidden in the Mist?"

"You bet."

Kiyoko turned to her teammates. "Let's kick their asses."

_Finally, a battle! I was going to be disappointed if we made it out that easy_, she smiled. One of the mist nins shouted, "Raining water needles!"

Kiyoko made a wall of earth to cover them, then leapt at the water. Chakra in her feet, she stood on the water facing the one who had flung her around. He was gonna pay. Kiyoko hated heights. She performed her seals.

_"Doton: Maruishi Tounyuu!"_

She focused on the large boulders on the bottom of the river. They exploded out of the water right under the surprised ninja. When he jumped to avoid them, Kiyoko quickly did her Stone-Glove Blade and threw herself at him. She stabbed him in the arm and the mist nin cried out. She heard one of her teammates scream. Hinata. Something inside Kiyoko snapped. _No one hurts my friends! No one!_ She lashed out at her opponent viciously, using her Stone Blades as a katana. Delivering a powerful kick to his head, Kiyoko watched the mist nin slump against a tree, unconscious. She raced to help her friends. Hinata was bleeding from a gash in her leg, but was still fighting fiercely.

"Kiyoko! Behind you!" shouted Shino. She barely dodged a spinning Water Fang attack that would have pierced right through her. These guys were serious. They were really trying to kill them. She hurled boulders at the remaining two, but they were quick. One of them hurled a water attack at Kiba and Akamaru, hitting the puppy right out of the air.

"Akamaru!" shouted Kiba, turning to catch him. The mist nin used this opportunity to attack.

_"Triple Water Swords!"_

As three sharp blades materialized from the water and launched themselves at Kiba like bullets, Kiyoko watched in horror. Time seemed to slow down. She raced towards Kiba in what seemed like slow motion and called out a warning. He turned and saw the danger, but it was too late. Kiba put up his arms to shield his face and braced himself for the hit. It never came. He felt something warm dripping down his arms that were still shielding his face. _Blood? My blood? No, it smells like...Kiyoko's blood!_

"Kiyoko!" he cried as he lowered his arms. She was standing in front of him, arms outstretched to protect him from the blades. "Baka! Why did you do that?!"

Kiyoko turned and smiled weakly at him. "Had to...protect...friends..." she choked out, then fell to her knees, coughing out a mouthful of blood. She grimaced and yanked out one of the blades still stuck deep into her chest. Kiyoko summoned up all the chakra she had left to give her strength. In a strained voice, she managed to cry out, "_No one_ hurts my friends! _Doton no Jutsu!_" ('Earth Jutsu')

As she shouted this, the earth surrounding her began to swirl around the wounded konoichi in a vicious whirlwind. Kiyoko directed it at the two mist ninjas and released it. One jumped out of the way, but the other was caught in it and flung against a large boulder. They retreated in a hurry, grabbing the still unconscious one that Kiyoko had knocked out earlier. Looking down, she realized that there were still two swords protruding from her. She took one in each hand and pulled them out at the same time with a strangled cry of pain. Her vision blurred and she slumped to the ground, bloodstained silver hair falling over her face. As the world darkened, the last thing she was aware of was Akamaru nuzzling her hand and whimpering in concern for his fallen friend. Then she felt nothing.

"Shino! Hinata! Kiyoko's hurt bad!" called Kiba. He looked at his dying comrade in panic. There was blood pouring from the three places where the blades had pierced her. _That should be me_, Kiba thought miserably. _She's dying because of me_. He put his hand over the wound that was bleeding the worst in an attempt to stop the flow. Shino and Hinata ran over and bent down.

"What happened?" demanded Shino. Kiba explained how she was just trying to protect him because he was stupid enough to turn his back on his opponent. Shino told him to shut up about it being his fault and take off his jacket. He did so without question. Shino laid it on the ground beside Kiyoko.

"Now, Hinata, help me get her onto the jacket. We'll use it to move her over to those trees. If we tend to her wounds out here in the open, we're sitting targets," instructed Shino. Hinata nodded and they slowly lifted Kiyoko onto the makeshift stretcher. They carefully dragged her to the shelter of the trees.

"Can you guys last without me for awhile?" Kiba questioned.

"She's lost a lot of blood. We can keep her alive for a few hours tops, if that's what you mean," Shino replied. "Why?"

"I'm going to find Team 7. Sakura has been training with The Fifth Hokage as a medicnin. If Kiyoko has any hope of making it the next four and a half days, she's our only chance," Kiba stated determinedly, picking up Akamaru.

"Wait," Shino said. Kiba opened his mouth to tell him not to stop him from going, but Shino didn't let him.

"Take a scroll. It might help convince them to help us," he suggested, handing him the Earth scroll from his pocket. "And be careful out there on your own. Those mist ninjas aren't the only ones willing to kill for a scroll."

"Kiyoko risked her life for me. I'm not dying before I find Sakura," Kiba assured him.

"You should hurry, Kiba-kun," Hinata told him. "Judging by her chakra flow, some of her organs have been severely damaged. My healing salve will help, but it can't repair a punctured lung."

Kiba nodded and sped off as fast as he could, sniffing the air for the scent of the pink haired girl that was Kiyoko's only hope. The only thing he could smell was Kiyoko's blood on his clothes and face and in his hair. Then he found it; the faintest whiff of floral shampoo and ramen noodles. Sakura and Naruto. He pushed even more chakra into his feet to speed up, and caught up to the pair in less than twenty minutes.

"Naruto! Where's Sakura-chan?" he demanded as he came upon the blonde.

"She went to go 'relieve herself'. What do you want her for?" he asked.

Just then Sakura emerged from the bushes, and Kiba ran up to her.

"Kiba-kun, what's wrong? You're covered in blood! Are you hurt?"

He shook his head. "Not me, it's Kiyoko. She's dying, and it's all my fault. Sakura-chan, you're the only one with mednin training that we can trust. Please save her," he practically begged. Naruto looked Sakura in the eye and said in a voice that left no room for arguement, "We're going. Kiyoko's the closest thing I've ever had to a sister. I won't let anything happen to her. Lead the way, Kiba."

"Hai, lead the way," Sakura nodded.

* * *

"Shino, Hinata, I'm back!" Kiba called as the trio raced over. Sakura leaned over Kiyoko and lifted the makeshift bandages to inspect the wound and cursed when she saw the extent of the damage. "This is worse than I thought. I need you all to give me some room. Gather some wood and build a fire. I may need to boil some herbs later," she commanded, and they hurried off to fulfill her order. Sakura concentrated on everything Tsunade had taught her and went to work. Two hours later, Shino, Hinata, and Kiba were sitting around a small campfire, silently waiting for Sakura to give them the news. 

"Kiyoko? Can you hear me?" Sakura asked softly. Kiyoko stirred slightly, then slowly opened her eyes.

"I'm alive? How did I manage that?" mumbled the silver haired shinobi. Sakura laughed in happiness. If she was feeling well enough to be sarcastic, she would be fine. She called the others over to tell them the good news.

"Yoko! You're okay!" Naruto exclaimed, carefully wrapping his arms around her with tears streaming down his face.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow, careful, that's tender," Kiyoko laughed. "Now quit your crying, dobe. I'm okay!"

Sakura managed to pry him off, and handed her a cup. "Here's some tea, make sure you drink the whole thing."

Kiyoko took the cup and took a sip. She immediately spit it out and made a disgusted face.

"I thought you said this was tea!"

"It is tea...with some herbs added..." Sakura admitted. "You still need to drink it, though. It'll help with the pain."

Kiyoko reluctantly drained the cup. She was right, it did help a bit, but it was still nasty beyond belief. Sakura turned to the group and said, "Since it's already dark, we'll camp out with you guys tonight. We'll have to head out in the morning, though. We still have a scroll to get, after all. Kiyoko, you may be able to move by morning, but don't push it. You were really close to dying."

"Wouldn't be the first time, nor will it be the last. That's the way this job goes," Kiyoko pointed out. "But, don't worry, I'll take it easy. I'll only be a burden if I try to make it to the tower before I'm fit to fight. Now, who has first watch?"

Kiba agreed to do the first shift of nightwatch. Kiyoko could tell he was still blaming himself for this. She agreed that it was his fault, but she wouldn't have it any other way. Her friends were safe, and that the only thing she cared about. In the morning, they said goodbye to Naruto and Sakura, wishing them good luck. Shino asked if she was ready to move on or not.

"I'm still hurting pretty bad," she said. "I'm not going to be able to make it today. I'll be ready for sure by tomorrow, though."

The team spent the day resting, and in Kiyoko's case, exercising. At first, she needed help walking. Kiba, who had been following her like a lost puppy (no pun intended) since morning, would hold her hand so she could take a few wobbly steps. She quickly regained her strength and was even able to perform jutsus again by mid-afternoon. She suggested that they all take a quick nap so that they could get going by nightfall. They were less likely to encounter enemy teams traveling by night while everyone else slept.

"We'll just have to watch out for snipers around the tower," Hinata remarked, meaning the teams who laid in wait for the teams heading to the tower with both scrolls. They agreed and were off by dark. They all breathed a proverbial sigh of relief when they made it to the tower doors only having to shake off one attack.

"This is it, you guys," Kiyoko grinned. "We've made it this far. We're over halfway there."

They pushed the doors open and walked in. It was a large, empty room. There was a big scroll hanging from one of the walls.

"'If you do not posses Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not posses Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both Heaven and Earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe ones. This is the secret of.' that's weird, there's a letter missing in that column," Kiyoko said, pointing to the blank place where the sentence was missing its final character. "'It shall lead you on your way.' That's what it says."

"Heaven and Earth, that must be talking about the scrolls. It's telling us to open both scrolls, I guess," Shino said. Kiba took out his Earth scroll, and Kiyoko took out her Heaven one. They unrolled the papers and looked in confusion at what was written on both. There was a weird circle design with symbols around it. In the center of the circle was a single kanji for the word 'human'.

"Human? What does that mean?" Hinata questioned. They all shrugged. Suddenly, smoke started seeping out of the center of each circle. Shino snatched the scrolls out of their hands and threw them away from them.

"It's a summoning scroll," Shino explained. "Stay alert for whatever comes out. It could be another part of the test."

A figure appeared amongst the smoke. As it cleared, Kiyoko realized what it was.

"Hey, it's Genma! Hi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i Genma!" Kiyoko called out cheerfully, waving energetically. The stick-chewing, long haired chuunin grinned. "Hey, Kiyoko. Glad someone's happy."

"Hey, man. What're you doing showing up through a summoning techinque, anyway?" Kiba asked.

"I was assigned to deliver a you a message," he explained, then smiled. "Congratulations on passing the second exam."

* * *

**Shiori's Blurbs:**

Thanks much to everyone who reviewed! Sorry that this chapter took longer than the others. I had to rewatch all the chuunin exam episodes. Man, I haven't watched the first few seasons in forever! Plus this chapter's _really, really, REALLY _long (I started writing and got a bit carried away). Thanks to:

**AnimeKaiser**

**Centurious The Azure**

**Strawberry9212**

for reviewing chapter 3! Hopefully I won't go as writing-crazy-obsessive next time.

**Shiori**: Meeeeeeh, my brains are goop! I spent the _entire_ day writing the rest of this part.

**Kiyoko**: And who's fault is that?

**Shiori**: Shut up, you don't even really exist.

**Kiyoko**: I'll throw rocks at you.

**Naruto**: Can I help? I wanna pelt the author with rocks for not giving me a bigger part in this one. I'm the main character! Believe it!

**Kiyoko**: Quit saying 'believe it' like you're in the retarded english version. You sound like an idiot.

**Naruto**: Believe it! I'll say whatever I want! BELIEVE IT!

**Kiyoko**: _Aiyeee!_ ::throttles Naruto::

**Shiori**: Make the voices stop::fetal position::

**Naruto**: Ow! That hurt! Believe it!

**Kiyoko**::finished tying Naruto to tree:: Stay tuned for the next chapter: The Chuunin Exam Part 2


	5. Ch 5: The Chuunin Exams Part 2

**Chapter 5: The Chuunin Exams Part 2**

This is the last part of the chuunin exam chapters. Which teams passed? Which ones didn't? Read and find out who gets to kick who's asses in the final exam. This chapter is dedicated to my awesome little sister. Love ya Lily-girl!

* * *

"Do you all understand the meaning of this passage?" Genma asked, referring to the wall scroll. 

"Not really, we just got that we were supposed to open both scrolls," Shino answered. Genma nodded and explained that he was also assigned to tell them the meaning of it.

"In the part that says, 'If you do not posses heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared,' heaven symbolizes the mind. If your weakness is cunning or intelligence, then you should study before missions and acquire knowledge. 'If you lack Earth, run through the fields and gain strength.' Earth in this case symbolizes strength. If your weakness is strength, then you should train harder every day and become stronger. The missing character is the 'human' one written on your scrolls. This symbolizes a chuunin. A chuunin's job is to lead a team on a mission. They must be both strong and cunning for this. That's what the passage means," he told them. "There are still two days until the exam ends. You will not be allowed to leave the tower until then."

"So we just camp out here for two days?" Kiyoko asked sarcastically. Genma laughed. "Each team gets a room, full medical attention, and food. It's kind of a reward for finishing before the last day. Have fun, kiddos. Good luck."

With that, he disappeared with a small poof of smoke. They spent the remainder of the test relaxing and being poked and prodded by fussing mednins. Kiyoko was the only one with any serious injuries, though.

"So what's the third exam like?" Kiyoko asked as she lounged on her sleeping mat on the fifth day, boredly playing fetch with a kunai with Akamaru. It was almost like being stuck in the hospital again.

"One on one fighting," Shino answered. "Last year they did preliminary matches because there were too many people who passed. That's probably why they're keeping us here. They must be expecting a need for a preliminary match."

"The real thing isn't for another month," Kiba added. "It's in front of all the Kages and leaders of the countries. They're part of the panel of judges who decide who passes. Even if you lose, you could still become a chuunin. Last year, the only one who passed was Nara Shikamaru, even though he technically lost."

"Did you make it to the matches?" Kiyoko asked. Kiba shook his head. "Nah, I lost to Uzumaki in the prelims. Shino here made it, though. He didn't even get to fight though. The guy he was supposed to fight forfeited."

"I still got to kick his ass later on, though," Shino stated, and proceeded to tell the story of last years disaster involving Konoha, Suna, the Hidden Sound, and the traitorous Uchiha Sasuke. When he finished the story, the chuunin Kotetsu came and got them. When they entered the main arena, they saw that there were only five teams left, including theirs. Among them were Ino and Chouji, but not Naruto and Sakura. There was also Maito Gai's team, a team from the Hidden Sand, and the Hidden Mist team that had almost been team eight's downfall. _Fifteen total,_ Kiyoko counted. All the jounin senseis were present, along with a handful of chuunins and Hokage Tsunade.

"Congratulations on surviving the forest. My name is Hagane Kotetsu. Due to the high number of passing teams, we will be holding a preliminary round to eliminate some of you. Those of you who win your match will automatically advance to the finals. To make the numbers even, we will also be selecting two people who put up a formidable fight even though they lost. The rules are simple: there are none. The match ends when you or your opponent is unable to fight or is killed. If I sense that the match is over, I will intervein to prevent any unneccessary deaths. I am the referee, so what I say goes. If there are no questions, the first match will begin in just a minute," he explained.

"What? But some of us just got here! Shouldn't we get some time to rest?" protested the mist team. Kotetsu ignored them. Everyone turned to the large screen to see who would be fighting first, praying it wasn't them. The first pair appeared on the screen.

"Akimichi Chouji versus Hyuuga Hinata," announced Kotetsu. Kiyoko gave her teammate a quick hug and wished her luck. At first, Chouji seemed to be winning. Hinata was spending all her time avoiding Chouji's deadly Meat-tank jutsu, giving her no opportunities to attack. When he came out of his 'rolling ball of doom' and began using his partial multi-size technique, though, Hinata was finally able to get on the offensive. She used her clan's abilities to shut down his chakra flow, rendering his attacks useless, and finished him with a series of taijutsu attacks.

"Winner: Hyuuga Hinata."

Kiyoko and Kiba jumped over the side of the arena wall to congratulate Hinata on a match well fought. Kiba punched her shoulder and tousled her hair playfully. "Ata' girl, Hinata. We knew you could do it."

The second pair was announced.

"Dokugi Takeo versus Hyuuga Neji."

It was the Mist ninja that Kiyoko had first fought against. She chuckled and hoped that Neji would beat him up good. She was disappointed when the match ended in less than five minutes with Neji knocking him out without even using his byakugan.

The third match will be Kankurou versus Kiyoko."

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard her name called. _My turn._

"Good luck, Kiyoko-chan," Hinata said. Shino put a hand on her shoulder as she turned to leave and told her, "The shinobi you see in front of you is a puppet. The real Kankuro is in the package on his back. Aim for that, and watch out for the puppet's weapons arsenal."

Kiyoko nodded grimly, her face paling slightly. She stepped into the center of the arena. Kankurou smirked. "So, you made it this far. I'm impressed. It ends here, though."

"For you, yeah. Hopefully I won't have to kill you before you realize that," Kiyoko retorted with an overly sweet smile. Kotetsu signaled the start of the match. Kiyoko remembered what Shino had said about the puppet and formed a plan in the blink of an eye. She rushed at him like she was going in for a direct attack, but then rolled to the side and threw five kunai at the bundle. Kankurou saw through the attack, though, and moved just in time.

"How did you know where to attack?" he questioned in amusement.

"Lucky guess," she lied. "I needed to find out what the thing on your back is and how important it is to you."

"Luck will only get you so far. Don't count on it to save you, especially against Karasu," he replied. Kiyoko watched as a the real Kankurou emerged from the wrappings. She could see the strings of chakra connecting his fingers to the puppet.

"The puppeteer comes out. Clever, but not good enough. _Doton: Maruishi Tounyuu!"_ ('Earth Element: Boulder Throw')

Kiyoko hurled three large boulders at him, glad that the arena was made of stone. The disguise on the puppet disappeared, and Kankurou twitched his hands to make it launch a series of spikes to destroy the rocks. _Chikuso, that puppet is going to become quite troublesome. I'll have to try something else. I hope that taijutsu training with Hinata has paid off._ She formed her seals and shouted, _"Doton: Iwa Katana no Tebukuro!"_

Kiyoko concentrated on making her Stone Blade Gloves as dense and sharp as she could, then charged at her opponent. The puppet Karasu moved to block her, but the silver haired shinobi dug her bladed arms into the puppet and flung it out of the way before going for Kankurou. As he reached up to block her fierce punches, the lines of chakra connecting him to the puppet disappeared. Karasu slumped to the ground behind them. Everytime he tried to reestablish the connection with his puppet, Kiyoko forced him to block her attacks by aiming her spikes at a vital area of his body. She could feel him straining to keep up with her attacks. He managed to jump back and evade Kiyoko long enough to reconnect his chakra to Karasu. Their roles were reversed and it was Kiyoko who was now on the defensive. There seemed to be no end to the number of weapons that puppet posessed. She ended up using more chakra, and more time, than she anticipated protecting herself from being hit. Eventually, she formulated a plan. _You know what they say: The best defense is a good offense._ She threw down one of her smoke bombs, giving her the few seconds she needed to form the seals for her _Dochuu Eigyo_ ('Underground Fish Projection'). She sank into the stone floor. Kankurou whirled around, searching for her as the smoke dissippated. Kiyoko conjured up a _Bunshin no Jutsu_ and used a genjutsu to make it look like she was attacking him with another _Maruishi Tounyuu_. As he used Karasu to block the illusionary attack, Kiyoko 'swam' through the floor towards him. Just as he realized it was an illusion, Kiyoko rose up silently behind Kankurou and grabbed him by the arms. She dragged him down until he was up to his shoulders, and then let go. He was stuck in the stone, unable to move from the neck down and therefore unable to command his puppet. Kiyoko rose herself up from the ground and knealt down in front of the trapped Sand nin.

"Remember how this match went. If I had dragged you down all the way, you'd be crushed under more than two thousand pounds of solid rock. I could have killed you, but I didn't," she smirked. He glared at her and growled, "Then why didn't you?"

"Because I like you. You're a good opponent, and I know you could beat me. I look forward to facing you again," she answered, then flicked him on the nose and stood up.

"Winner: Kiyoko," Kotetsu announced and then walked over to where Kankurou was still wiggling to free himself. "Uh, Kiyoko, a little help here?"

"Oh, right. Sorry," she said, then sank back down into the ground and lifted him out easily. She rejoined her teammates, who congratulated her on a great fight. Kurenai complimented her on the flawless chakra control in her finishing move. "I'm impressed that you were able to stick him in the ground like that with out crushing him."

"She's got some mad skills, alright," Kiba boasted. Kiyoko just blushed and dismissed it as 'the product of way too many hours of practice', which it was. She had read about it in a book of jutsus and decided to teach herself how to do it. At first, the branches she practiced with came out of the ground as little piles of splinters. Admittedly, this was the first time she'd tried it on anything living, but Kurenai didn't need to know that. The next match was announced a minute later.

"Aburame Shino versus Rock Lee."

"Yeah, go Shino!" shouted Kiyoko, but was disheartened when he ended up losing to the unbelievably fast taijutsu user. Kiba told him that at least he managed to seriously creep Lee out with his bugs. Even Shino laughed at the remark.

"Next match: Tenten versus Nagichi Satoru."

Kiyoko recognized Tenten's opponent as the one who had stabbed her with the three water spikes.

"Kick his ass for me, Tenten!" she called out to her friend.

"This the one who tried to shish kebob you?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's the one," Kiyoko laughed. Tenten smirked. "Will do, hun. Don't you worry."

She didn't let her friend down. When the match ended, Satoru had to be carried off on a stretcher, looking like a human pincushion. Kiyoko snickered and high-fived Tenten, her revenge satisfied. Even Hinata looked happy to see him become the victim of Tenten's famous projectile weaponry. He had put up an excellent fight, though. Tenten was now sporting a black eye and a sprained ankle. He almost got her quite a few times with those damn water spikes of his. That Satoru was a ruthless fighter.

"Next match: Yamanaka Ino versus Inuzuka Kiba."

Kiyoko groaned and smacked her forehead in frustration. It just _had_ to be two of her best friends going against each other. Who was she supposed to cheer for?! She ended up cheering for both. Kiba won the match, though. When he and Akamaru did their beast-man clone, Ino couldn't use her mind transfer because she couldn't tell which one was which, and because if she did use it on one, then it would leave her body defenseless for the other one to attack. Kiyoko congratulated Kiba and told Ino that she'd do better next time. They were down to the final two matches.

"Nagichi Michi versus Gaara no Sabaku."

"Just watch the way this sand guy fights," Kiba whispered. "It's freaky cool."

He was right. Kiyoko was astounded by the way he controlled his sand to do his bidding without any effort. "He doesn't even have to use hand seals," she remarked as a wall of sand came up to block Michi's attacks. Gaara hadn't even moved the entire match so far. He just stood there with his arms crossed.

"He doesn't use hand seals because the sand acts on its own. He doesn't have to do anything," Ino explained, still holding an ice pack to her head where Kiba had hit her. She shuddered. "Sasuke-kun fought him last year. He got _one_ punch in. When Gaara saw the sight of his own blood, he went crazy."

"The one-tailed demon Shukaku is sealed inside him," Shino said. "I saw it myself. It was...frightening."

"That guy kills without even thinking twice about it. He hates everyone and claims he only exists to kill people," Kiba put in. Kiyoko waved her hand in dismissal. "He's probably not that bad, you guys."

_I **live** with a nine-tailed fox demon, and you don't see me running away screaming, do you?_ She watched as Gaara raised a hand and said in a bored voice, "_Sabaku Kyuu._" ('Desert Coffin')

As the sand from his gourd wrapped around the helpless mist nin, Michi struggled futilely to escape. He let out a scream of pain as the sand began to crush him.

"Match over, Gaara, release him," Kotetsu called. Gaara brought his hand down and Michi fell to the ground, shaking. Kiyoko realized that there was only one person left, the Suna girl with the four pigtails. Someone would have to fight again.

"Are there any volunteers among those who lost their match to fight the final competitor?" asked Kotetsu. Dokugi Takeo, who had regained consciousness, stepped forward, eager for another chance to advance to the finals.

"Final match: Temari versus Takeo."

Unfortunately, the fight with Neji had tired him out more than he expected, and he was blown away in the first three minutes. Literally. Kotetsu and the other chuunins got together to discuss who would be advancing in addition to those who won their match.

"Here are the names of those who will be advancing to the final exam: Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Neji, Kiyoko, Rock Lee, Tenten, Inuzuka Kiba, Gaara no Sabaku, and Temari. The three who have also been selected to advance are: Kankurou, Nagichi Satoru, and Aburame Shino."

"Congrats Shino, you made it!" Kiyoko exclaimed, rushing up to her friend and giving him a huge hug. She was a bit miffed that Satoru had passed, but somewhat happy that Kankurou would be advancing as well. She wanted another chance to fight him.

"Before we let you go, there's one more thing we need to take care of. Izumo is going around with a box. Everyone take a piece of paper."

Kiyoko reached in when it was her turn. The paper had a five on it. Izumo instructed them to read off their numbers and wrote something down on his clipboard as they told him their numbers. He held up the clipboard to show a tournament style setup.

"This shows who you will be fighting in exactly one month. The first rounds will be Tenten versus Neji, then Hinata versus Kankuro, Kiyoko versus Kiba, Rock Lee versus Temari, Gaara versus Shino, and then Satoru versus the winner of the previous round," he read off. Kiyoko's heart sank to the bottom of her stomach. She had to face one of her best friends on earth. As Izumo explained the final exam, Kiyoko walked up to Kiba.

"I don't want to fight you like this, but hey, that's the way it goes," Kiyoko shrugged. "I won't go easy on you, and I expect you not to go easy on me."

Kiba grinned and stuck his hand out. "Deal. I think this could be fun. Me and Akamaru are gonna have to train extra hard the next month."

They 'shook on it' and agreed not to go easy on each other and not to hold a grudge against the winner. Then, to everyone's relief, they were all dismissed. She arrived home to find Naruto packing a backpack full of clothes and supplies.

"You're leaving, then?" Kiyoko asked. He whipped around, just noticing her. "Hey, Yoko! How'd you do? Did you make it to the final round?"

"Yeah, I beat Kankurou in the prelims," she told him. "Where are you going?"

"On a mission with Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan. I just got the assignment. It's a classified B-rank, possibly A-rank, so I can't tell you about it until I get back in a few weeks."

"Will you be back in time for the exam?" she asked. Naruto told her that he should be. He finished packing and Kiyoko walked him out.

"Be careful, Naruto-otoutosan. Don't get yourself killed," she said, giving him a hug goodbye ('otoutosan' is younger brother).

"Hai, don't worry about me, Yoko-neesan." ('neesan' is elder sister)

For the next month, Kiyoko trained as hard as she could. In the evenings when she was done practicing, she would draw as a form of meditation. There were countless sketches tacked to the walls of her room until there was hardly any wall space left. She pushed aside a drawing she had been doing of the Hokage monument and took out a new piece of paper. Lately, she had been doing sketches of her friends. The intensity of the exams made her realize that a ninja's life is full of danger, and death could catch up with you at any time. The drawings she did were a way for her to preserve her friends in a sense. A few hours later, she had a finished drawing of her team training together. In the months that she had been in Konoha, the entire village had become her family. Kiyoko was almost happy that she didn't have any memories beyond her new life in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

* * *

_Tap, tap, tap._

Kiyoko looked up from her sketch to see who was at her window. For ninjas, doors were over-rated. It was Kiba and Ino. She set down her pencil and opened the window. It was the evening before the test, and Kiyoko was more than a little nervous. Kiba flopped down on the bed and Akamaru let out a happy bark. "What is _this_?" Kiba laughed, picking up the floppy-eared, stuffed bunny that was on the unmade bed.

"Ninja Bunny!" Kiyoko yelled, snatching it away from him. Kiba snickered. "_Ninja_ Bunny? Sorry, but that's pretty sad."

"I think it's darling," Ino defended. "Aw, look, it even has it's own little forehead protector."

Kiba rolled his eyes. "_Girls._"

"Anyway, we came here to see if you were going to the festival tonight," Ino said. Kiyoko shrugged. "I wasn't planning on it, but I guess I'll go if you guys want."

"Great! So, what are you going to wear?" she asked excitedly. Kiyoko raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with what I always wear?"

"Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting that you've only been in Konoha for like eight months."

"Nine," Kiyoko corrected.

"Whatever. Anyway, at the festival you have to wear something traditional," she explained. Kiyoko groaned. "You mean I have to go shopping for a kimono?"

"Bye, guys. See you at the festival," Kiba announced at the mention of the word 'shopping'. Kiyoko grabbed him by the ear before he could dart out the window. "Oh, no you don't. If I have to go shopping, so do you."

"Damn."

An hour and half a paycheck later, Ino had talked Kiyoko into a spring green kimono with dragon and lotus flower designs on it. Then Ino wanted to do her hair, but Kiyoko wouldn't let her.

"It's fine, I like wearing it long. Besides, the festival will be starting any minute," she insisted. Ino pouted and told them that she'd see them at the carnival later. Kiyoko arrived at the festival and located Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Tenten, and Rock Lee at the food booth.

"Hey, Kiyoko," Tenten greeted. "You look great. I love the kimono."

"Thanks, Ino helped me pick it out."

They all walked around, laughing and having an all around good time. Towards the end of the evening, all the participants of the final exam got together at a table for some good natured pre-battle talk. The only ones missing were Gaara no Sabaku and Satoru of the Mist Village. The festival ended with fireworks and the Hokage wishing everyone good luck in their fights. They all went home for some sleep, knowing that the next day they very well might be killed in front of the entire village. Not a comforting thought. The next morning, Kiyoko woke up, showered, forced down some breakfast, and headed to the huge ampitheater where the fights would take place. She joined the other ten in a small box overlooking the arena and sat down by Tenten, who seemed to be meditating.

"Hey," she said. "Nervous?"

"Nah, just excited. I've been up since dawn. I'm so ready to fight," Tenten grinned. Kiyoko nodded. "I know what you mean. You're lucky, though. You get to fight first round."

Just then, Kiyoko's favorite blonde ninja burst into the room.

"Hi, Yoko! I made it just in time!" he said. "Good luck on your fight."

"Thanks, Naruto."

Just then they announced the start of the event, so Naruto had to go take a seat in the stands. Tenten and Neji walked onto the field. Despite Tenten's unbelievable precision, she was no match for Neji's byakugan. The battle ended, and it was Hinata's turn. Kiyoko watched anxiously as she fought Kankuro with everything she had. Her taijutsu had improved greatly to an almost untrackable speed. Kankuro, however, had some new tricks up his sleeve. He pulled out a scroll and summoned a second puppet called Black Ant and caught her completely offguard. Hinata went down fighting, but she still went down. Then, it was Kiyoko's turn. She swallowed nervously and nodded at Kiba.

_"Third match: Inuzuka Kiba versus Kiyoko."_

"May the best ninja win," Kiyoko stated, giving Kiba a playful punch in the shoulder.

"Hai," was Kiba's intelligent response. Like the gladiators of Rome, they took their places on the field for the crowd to cheer, and the judges signaled for them to start.

"_Doton: Jishin!_" ('Earth Element: Earthquake')Kiyoko shouted right off the bat, sending chakra into the ground and using it to stir up the earth beneath Kiba and Akamaru. They jumped to avoid it just as she predicted. Putting her palms to the ground, she made the loosened soil from her last attack explode upwards at them. Direct hit. Kiba swore as a large stone glanced off his shoulder, dislocating it. When he hit the ground, he merely stood up and put his joint back in place with a sickening popping sound. He tossed Akamaru a soldier pill and took one himself. They executed their beast-man clone jutsu and rushed at Kiyoko on all fours. Using the taijutsu that she'd been practicing with Hinata, she delivered a powerful kick to one of them. The second Kiba-clone swiped her with a clawed hand. Blood ran down her left arm from the marks. Kiyoko formed her seals and a large boulder erupted from the ground, slamming into the clones. For the next fifteen minutes, they continued beating the crap out of each other. Both inflicted damage on the other, but neither seemed to be winning nor losing. Finally, after being flung into the stadium wall, Kiba slumped to the ground in exhaustion. He raised his hand and called out, "I forfeit. I'm out of chakra."

Kiyoko walked over to her friend and helped him up. His leg was injured, so he had to lean on her shoulder so she could help him limp out of the stadium. The medicnins took over. They were both pretty beaten up, but both had a smile on their faces.

"You've improved," Kiba stated.

"So have you. I thought you had me there. Right up until that last hit," Kiyoko told him. When they emerged from the small infirmary, the sixth match was being announced; Gaara versus Satoru. They had missed two rounds.

"Hey, who won the last two rounds?" Kiyoko asked a spectator walking by.

"Oh, cool, you're that earth jutsu girl," he said. "After you, Temari of Suna defeated Rock Lee, and Gaara of the Sand beat Aburame Shino."

"Thanks," she said and went back to the fighter's box. The match ended with Gaara winning, to no one's surprise. The seventh match was round one's winner versus round two's winner: Neji versus Kankurou. Everyone thought that Kankurou was no match for Neji, but the Suna nin had some new tricks up his sleeves. He pulled out a scroll and summoned a second puppet called 'Black Ant'. Kankurou won, and the next match was announced: Kiyoko versus Temari. Kiyoko knew that she couldn't win against that fan of hers if she stuck with her normal earth attacks. She'd have to get up close and personal with a series of close-range jutsus. Using her _Dochuu Eigyo_ ('Underground Fish Projection'), she snuck up underneath Temari and exploded from the earth like a bullet, knocking the girl to the ground. Temari hit Kiyoko with her wind blades, but eventually Kiyoko won by using her Stone Binding to trap her. Exhausted, she wondered why the crowd was cheering so loudly. Then she realized, _hang on a second, I made it to the final round! Cool._ They announced a one hour break for the two finalists to rest. When it was time, Kiyoko walked onto the field to face Gaara.

"Let the final match begin."

Kiyoko experimentally threw a kunai at him. Just as she thought, the sand rose up to protect him. _A very effective defense,_ Kiyoko thought. _But no defense is impenetratable_. She kneeled down and put her hands over the ground palms down. Using her chakra she sifted through the earth, feeling for the hardest rocks she could find. Gaara watched silently as Kiyoko formed the hand seal _Mi_, and closed her eyes in concentration (**note**: '_Mi_' is the snake hand seal, which is associated with Earth Element manipulation). With a low rumble that made the crowd fall silent, she summoned the selected rocks from the ground to wrap around her arms and formed her trademark_ Iwa Katana no Tebukuro._ This one was different, though. The twin spikes protruding from her arms shimmered blue with the chakra she had infused them with to make them more powerful. Using the same technique she had utilized against Naruto's Kage Bunshins in practice, she made the dirt swirl around her. With the dust cloud covering her, Kiyoko launched herself at Gaara with as much speed as she had to try and beat the sand's defense. She felt her spikes bite into her opponent, so she settled the dust to see for sure. Both blades were stuck into Gaara's shoulders. He looked up at Kiyoko and smiled evilly. She looked at where the spikes were stuck into him and saw that there was no blood. It was cracked like broken porcelain. _What the hell?_ The cracked pieces crumbled from Gaara and turned to sand. _Of course! He uses the sand as armor._

"Not many people have gotten through my sand barriers. You are indeed a worthy opponent," he said. "But only one has ever pierced my armor of sand enough to draw blood."

Kiyoko yanked her spikes free and jumped back. Gaara formed a seal Kiyoko had never seen, forming a triangle shape with his hands.

"_Sabaku Kyuu_." ('Desert Coffin')

The sand snaked out of his gourd towards her. Kiyoko sank into the earth to avoid it. Gaara smiled.

"Baka."

He used his chakra and his sand to crush the rocks and pebbles in the ground to create more sand. Feeling his opponent struggling in the trap, he wrapped his sand around Kiyoko and dragged her to the surface, coughing and sputtering sand.

"How did you-?"

"I used my sand to crush your precious earth into more sand," he explained, then entrapped her in his Desert Coffin. He held out a hand and said, "_Sabaku Sousou_." ('Desert Funeral')

Gaara felt a sharp delight at the scream of pain coming from his prey, a scream that was cut off abruptly as the sand ripped Kiyoko apart. Something was wrong though. There was no blood for his sand to absorb. Instead, fine soil fell to the ground. Suddenly, a spiked arm wrapped around his neck with the blade pressed to his throat.

"Surprise," Kiyoko grinned. "Like my Earth Clone? I've been practicing. Now then, do you forfeit or do I have to shove this spike through your throat?"

"I never lose," he growled. Sand wrapped around Kiyoko's legs and lifted her high into the air, swinging her around a few times before releasing. She hit the wall with sickening speed and dropped to the ground. Amazingly, Kiyoko managed to raise herself so she was on her hands and knees. She spit out a mouthful of blood, turned to Gaara, smiled, and said, "That was fun."

She collapsed to the ground. When she came to, Kiyoko opened her eyes to see Shino, Hinata, Kiba, and Kurenai standing over her.

"Welcome back," Kurenai smiled. Kiyoko sat up and groaned, "Ah, my back is killing me."

"Well, I should think so," said a white clad medic nin. "When you hit that wall, you fractured your spine. Then you were foolish enough to try and get up. We got to you right away, so we were able to heal it easily."

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"Only a few hours. It's six-thirty now," Hinata told her. Kiyoko stiffly got to her feet. "Well, let's get going then. I'm starving."

Exactly one week later, Kiyoko looked in the mirror, admiring her brand-new chuunin jacket. She, Neji, Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari had passed. Only five total. Over the next few weeks, things slowly went back to normal in Konohagakure. Well, as normal things could get in a village where five-year-olds were trained to kill and how 'cool' you were was judged by how many battle scars you had.

* * *

**Shiori's blurbs:**

Well, that one took a bit longer than anticipated with school starting up again. I probably would have finished sooner if I wasn't so addicted to Clash of Ninja 2 (even though the voices are so annoying in English). I am definately getting the imported version of Clash of Ninja 4 so I don't have to listen to the stupid voices. Anyway, I think I did a pretty good job condensing the entire test into just two chapters. Thanks to **AnimeKaiser** for reviewing chapter four. **Next chapter:** The Silver Leaf of Konoha


	6. Ch 6: Shirotaka

**Chapter 6: Shirotaka  
**

Naruto left shortly after the chuunin selection exams to train abroad with Jiraiya. Kiyoko was sad to see him go, knowing she wouldn't see him for a couple years, but she knew that he would become unbelievably strong under Jiraiya's experienced training. Though the apartment was much quieter without the hyperactive blonde, Kiyoko had other friends to keep her company.

"Oi, Ino!" Kiyoko shouted, throwing a snowball so it came within an inch of her friend's head. It was late winter in Konohagakure, and despite being hardened shinobi warriors, the girls of the village knew the value of a good snowball fight.

"That was a warning shot, Yamanaka! Next one's coming at your face!"

It was Kiyoko, Ino, Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten in an all-out snowball blitz. Ino hurled a snowball back at Kiyoko, and she dodged it, only to be struck down by half a dozen more thrown by Tenten. The real battle started, however, when the boys arrived. Kiba, Neji, Rock Lee, Chouji, and even Shikamaru and Shino joined in to verse the girls.

"Okay, we're outnumbered, but we can still kick their asses," Kiyoko said before going on to lay out a strategy. "Ready, GO!"

An hour later, a forehead protector tied to a stick poked out from behind the boy's fort as a sign of surrender. Then, after smearing snow in the guy's faces, she, Ino, Tenten, Hinata, and Sakura gathered for hot chocolate at Kiyoko's apartment- until Kurenai came and ruined everyone's fun.

"Sorry to break up the party, but the Hokage wants to speak to Kiyoko," she said.

"Okay, I guess I gotta go. I'll see you all tomorrow," Kiyoko said, following Kurenai out the door. When she got to Tsunade's chambers, she knocked before entering and taking a seat on the chair in front of her desk.

"Kiyoko, I have a mission for you," she said bluntly, handing her a scroll. "Top priority, A-rank. You'll need to leave immediately. This mission is classified, so tell no one of this."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," said the kunoichi, bowing respectfully before leaving. _**I'm** being assigned a top priority, classified, A-rank mission? Why?_ As soon she arrived home, Kiyoko eagerly opened the mission scroll to see what this A-rank mission of hers was. It was pretty straight forward and uncomplicated, but sounded very difficult. Some scrolls containing instructions on forbidden and dangerous jutsus had been stolen by one of Orochimaru's spies. His hideout had been pinpointed to an area of woods thirty kilometers outside Konoha. Her job was to find him, retrieve the scrolls, and eliminate the spy before he got away. She rolled the mission scroll back up and changed into a white vest and pants to blend in with the snow better than her chuunin jacket and black pants. She smiled to herself and thought, _I don't know why the Hokage assigned me this mission, but I know she must've chosen me for a reason. I'm not going to let her down.  
_

* * *

Kiyoko leaped from tree branch to tree branch as she tracked the enemy ninja. She finally found him hiding in a small hut, hidden with genjutsu. Kiyoko dispersed the illusion and crept silently towards the structure. She sensed him in there, sleeping it seemed, but she wasn't taking any chances. After carefully assessing the situation, she set a couple of trip wires around the hut and silently slipped inside. The moment she entered the hut the spy was awake, kunai in hand and ready to fight. 

"Hand over those scrolls you stole, and your death will be quick and painless," Kiyoko said. She always said things like, "Don't make me have to kill you," during missions, but it was always just a bluff; she had never actually killed anyone before. _My orders were to get the scrolls back and kill this man. When the time comes, I will kill him without hesitation._

"This is what Konoha sends? A pint-sized kid?" said the man in mild amusement. Kiyoko lunged at him with her kunai and he raised his own to block her. She ran out the door to try and get him to follow her and fall into the traps she had set. He stepped on a wire and a dozen kunai launched themselves at him. The man was quick, though, and deflected all of them easily. He triggered another one and while he was busy dodging the blades, Kiyoko attacked from behind. Chakra gathered to her feet, she delivered a powerful kick that sent him flying. She then dove at him with a kunai in each hand. They began an intricate dance of bodies weaving in and out to the deadly music of steel against steel, rapid breathing, and pounding heartbeats; each trying to outmanuever the other. The spy lashed out and sliced Kiyoko in the face, momentarily blinding her. He drove his kunai deep into her shoulder, and she cried out and fell to the ground, clutching her bleeding shoulder. The man kneeled down and grabbed her by the throat.

"I will finish you slowly and painfully for all the trouble you've caused me," he sneered. Kiyoko let out a few convincing whimpers and curled up in a trembling ball of fear. The man smiled smugly and released his grip on her throat to pull out his weapon. _Baka_, Kiyoko thought with an inward smile before springing to life and shoving her kunai deep into his chest.

"A ninja never falls for his enemy's tricks," she hissed as he collapsed into the snow. "I may be young, but I don't fear death."

When the spy ceased his ragged breathing, Kiyoko searched the hut for the scrolls. When she found them, she looked at them curiously. _I wonder what's so important about the stuff written on these scrolls. Oh, well. All I know is that they're forbidden, and that's good enough for me._ She carefully pocketed the documents and left the hut. The pure, white snow was stained with the blood of Kiyoko's first kill. She wiped the blood from her face and got to work disposing of the body. Upon returning to Konoha, she went straight to Hokage Tsunade's chambers so she could get her mission report done and go home.

"I completed my mission. Here's the scrolls, Hokaga-sama," Kiyoko said, handing them to her.

"Good work, Kiyoko. You did well," Tsunade nodded. "I would like you to return here in the morning once you've had some time to rest."

"Hai. Arigato, Hokage-sama," she said, then quickly filled out her report and handed it to the secretary at the front desk. At home, Kiyoko sat on the sink of the bathroom, dabbing the cut on her face with disinfectant. She knew she was going to have a scar from it, but she didn't really mind. Then she showered to rid herself of the sticky feeling of blood and sweat all over her body and went to bed. In the morning, she went straight to the Fifth's.

"Good morning, Kiyoko," greeted Tsunade brightly. _'Good morning' is an oxymoron_, thought Kiyoko but replied, "Good morning, Hokaga-sama. You wanted to see me?"

"Hn, I have something to discuss with you," she nodded. "Please, sit down."

Kiyoko took a seat in the chair in front of the Hokage's desk. Had she done something wrong? What could the Fifth Hokage have to dicuss with a mere chuunin? She cleared her throat nervously and said, "Um, Hokage-sama, no offense, but why did you assign me that mission? There are many higher rank ninjas that you could've chosen."

Tsunade smiled. "The mission was a test. I needed to see how far you've come, and I must say that I'm impressed."

"A test? What would have happened if I'd failed?"

"Then the scrolls would be in Orochimaru's hands right now," she answered. "I wouldn't have assigned you the mission if I wasn't confident in your abilities. Now, would you like to know what the test was for?"

"_Un_," Kiyoko nodded.

"Back before the start of the chuunin exams, I had a few talks with Kurenai-sensei. I was curious about you. She told me that you are a very talented shinobi and that your ability to control earth elements is phenomenal. I asked her if she thought you would be suited to join a certain group of shinobi if you passed the chuunin selection exam, and she agreed. The mission I assigned you was so I could be sure you have what it takes, and you passed with flying colors. What do you know about the ANBU?"

"Not much. Just that they're elite ninjas that do all the top-secret, dangerous missions," Kiyoko said, startled. Was Tsunade considering putting her in with the ANBU?

"Hai, they're the ones I send when there's a mission that absolutely cannot fail. The ANBU excel at tracking and pursuit, so they also act as the village's hunter-nins. I was a bit concerned about that part, since you hadn't any recorded kills yet, which is why I assigned you that particular mission. But you've proved that you are very well suited to be an ANBU member, Kiyoko."

"M-me...?" Kiyoko stuttered, suspicions confirmed. Tsunade nodded. The blonde woman opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a porcelain mask. "The ANBU, which stands for **An**satsu Senjutsu Tokushu **Bu**tai, is an elite squad of ninjas under my direct control and every member is specifically chosen by me. If you agree to join, this mask will become your identity. Each one originally represented one of the signs of the zodiac; Ne, Ushi, Tora, U, Tatsu, Mi, Uma, Hitsuji, Saru, Tori, Inu, and I. As Hokage, I expanded the squad and added more branches. The original twelve have the job of guarding the Hokages and being bodyguards or escorts for important people such as ambassadors. You would be part of the ANBU branch that includes infiltration of enemy countries, assassinations, recon missions, and other high-risk missions. Do you accept this position, knowing the risks and responsibilities involved, agreeing to put your life on the line for this village?"

"Hai, I would be honored, Hokage-sama," Kiyoko grinned. Tsunade handed her the blank ANBU mask along with a uniform. "It is important to keep your identity as an ANBU member a secret from everyone unless it is absolutely neccessary. The meetings for the assassination branch are every day at three."

She handed Kiyoko a scroll with all the details of being in the ANBU and wished her good luck. Kiyoko practically skipped home and got to work painting the designs on her mask, which the scroll said was a tradition for ANBU members. When she finished, she looked at the simple, maroon design consisting of two stripes. One extented from the forehead to the beneath the left eye hole, and the the other went from the right cheek straight down to the bottom of the mask. Just like the scars on her face. Now all Kiyoko had to do was think of a name for the other members to refer to her as during missions so her identity wouldn't be discovered by enemy ninjas. She pondered a while before coming up with one. Shirotaka, or "White Falcon." It fit her nicely. 'White' because of her ivory colored hair, and 'falcon' for her signature move of attacking with her Stone-Blade Gloves from above, like a bird of prey. Putting on her new uniform and mask, she raced off across the rooftops to attend her first ANBU meeting.

* * *

"The first order of business is our new member. Welcome to the assassination branch, Shirotaka," said the ANBU leading the meeting. "Here are your groupings for todays missions." 

He went through the list until he got to the group Kiyoko would be in. "Yuugao, I want you and Kiyoko to take care of a missing-nin reported last last night. That should be a good one for a first ANBU mission for our newest addition."

A girl with long, violet hair stood up and told Kiyoko to come with her.

"Oh, and Yuugao," he added as an afterthought and patted his upper forearm. Yuugao laughed, "Alright. We'll take care of that quick before we head off."

Kiyoko gave the two a puzzled look, but then realized that it's not all that effective when one has a mask on. She followed the violet haired ANBU out the door. She lead her to a small medical room and Kiyoko asked what they were doing. Yuugao pulled out a small kit from a drawer and answered, "You know the marks we all have on our arms? You don't have one yet, and all ANBU are required to have one to identify each other with."

"So I'm getting a tattoo, then? Peachy."

"Yep, now hold still."

A few minutes later, Kiyoko looked at the stinging insignia on her arm. Yuugao put the kit away and explained their mission. A shinobi had abandoned the village the previous night to join the Hidden Mist. Their job was to track him down and kill him if he refused to return to Konoha with them. They started off, following the trail of the missing-nin. Yuugao explained more about the assassination branch of the ANBU as they moved through the treetops.

"We get all the dirty jobs, the ones that're most likely to end up messy and bloody. But we're the one's that get all the glory. Ya' know, the ones the little kids want to be when they grow up."

"Did you?" Kiyoko asked.

"Want to be an ANBU? Naw, when I was little I wanted to be Hokage. You?"

"Wish I could tell you. I don't have any memories beyond eleven months ago when I came to this village. Some guard found me beaten to a pulp in the woods and that's all I know," Kiyoko explained. She sensed that they were approaching their target. "You feel him, too?"

"Hn, this way. You'll take care of this one since it's your first ANBU mission. I'll just watch and make sure nothing goes wrong."

They came upon the missing-nin, a special jounin of only fifteen or sixteen, like herself. When he resisted, there was a brief fight that ended with Kiyoko running him through with her _Iwa Katana Tebukuro_. The ninja laid on his back, eyes staring blankly upwards. Kiyoko shivered and leaned down to close his sightless eyes. Any feelings she felt her actions, though, she quickly pushed back. Yuugao, however, sensed her unease and said, "The first few kills are always the hardest. I'll take care of eliminating the body. You go ahead and report back that the mission has been completed without complication."

Kiyoko shook her head. "I'm fine. Besides, it'll go quicker with two people."

Upon returning to Konoha, Kiyoko filled out the mission report and went home so she could get some rest before she had to go train with the team. As she passed by the academy courtyard, still in uniform and mask, the young students ran over to the fence.

"Wow, an ANBU! Cool!"

"Can I see your mask?"

"Did you kill anyone today?"

Kiyoko smiled beneath her mask and greeted the kids. She told them that she had to go now, and to work hard in school and all that stuff you tell little kids. Arriving home, she showered and then went outside to meditate. The apartment complex had a small garden, which Kiyoko found ideal for meditation. She sat cross-legged on a large, decorative boulder and began concentrating on her chakra flow. A while later, she sensed Hinata approach. She opened her eyes and a few stones that had been floating in midair fell to the ground. That happened sometimes when she was meditating intensely.

"Kiyoko-kun, it's time for training."

"Alright. I'm coming."

At the training grounds, Kiyoko got to work on a new technique she had been working on. It was a variation of her _Iwa Katana Tebukuro_ that she called _Iwa Tsume_ ('Stone Talon'). Instead of forming a single spike at the end of each arm, it formed something more like the talons of a hawk. The hard part was making it so that she could flex the claws, but still keep them a lethal hardness. They kept falling apart whenever she hit something, and it was becoming quite frustrating.

"_Chikuso!_" she swore when the claws crumbled from her hands for the sixth time in a row. Kiyoko tried again. She concentrated on the chakra flowing through the earth gathering around her arms like water, feeling it pulse with pent up energy. Closing her eyes, she could almost see the motion. It was a cool, tingling energy, like an autumn breeze. _Make it hot like fire_, her mind was telling her, more like a feeling than an actual voice. It didn't make any sense to Kiyoko, yet she understood it perfectly. She worked the chakra like clay and pictured it becoming a white-hot flame. Suddenly the chakra changed and became like a searing flame that almost felt like it was going to burn her. The talons turned black, smoothing and hardening themselves to an unbreakable solidity. Kiyoko could still feel the hot chakra trying to escape from her hands, and it was starting to hurt holding it back. She needed to find an outlet for all this excess energy quickly, so she looked around and spotted a tree a few meters away. Releasing all the chakra at once into her talons, she attacked the tree. The claws slashed right through it, cutting it in half. Kurenai ran over, followed closely by her other teammates.

"Was that your chakra just now?" asked her sensei.

"Yeah, what was that? We all felt it all the way across the field," Shino added.

"My newest jutsu, _Iwa Tsume_," Kiyoko grinned, proud of herself. Then she noticed the sharp pains shooting through her arms, and she let the talons crumble away. Her arm were riddled with burns up to her elbows from the force at which she expelled the chakra. Kiyoko held her hands up to show Kurenai and said, "Um, oops?"

"Chakra burns. You're going to want to take care of that before it gets infected," Kurenai told her. Hinata pulled out her special healing salve. "Here, Kiyoko-chan, let me see your arms. This'll help with the stinging until it heals."

"Arigato, Hinata-san. I owe you one," she said, holding out her hands. When Hinata finished, Kiyoko headed over to get the burns looked at by a doctor. Although her arms hurt like a bitch, she couldn't help but smile. She had mastered a powerful new jutsu that would definately come in handy in battle.

* * *

"Shirotaka, I have a mission for you," said the captain of the assassination branch one day a few months later after a meeting. "We have just recieved news of a possible invasion of the Fire Country by the Earth Country. I need you to lead a team and gather information about it. The Hokage recommended you because of your familiarity with Earth jutsus. Failing this mission is not optional. Konoha isn't prepared to fight off an attack. Your team will consist of no more than four people, including yourself. It takes a little more than two days to get to Iwagakure no sato, so your team must leave by first light tomorrow morning. Understood?" 

"Hai, I will begin gathering my team immediately," Kiyoko nodded. _Let's see, this is a spying mission, so it would be wise to choose ninja who excel in stealth techniques rather than fighting. I'll definately take Ino; that Mind Body Change Jutsu is ideal for spying. I'll need Hinata's Byakugan and Kiba's nose for detecting enemy ninjas, too._ She went over to Kiba's and Hinata's houses and told them to come with her. Then she headed over to Yamanaka Flowers. They still weren't aware of Kiyoko's ANBU status, so she had a bit of explaining to do.

"Hey, Ino, do you have a minute? I need to talk to you three."

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" Ino asked, setting down the germanium she had been repotting. Kiyoko grabbed her arm and dragged her and the other two into the back room for some privacy.

"I've been assigned an A-rank mission to gather information on an attack on Konoha by the Earth Country. I'm supposed to lead a four-man team. Hinata, I need your Byakugan. Kiba and Akamaru, I'll need your noses and ears, and Ino, your Mind Body Change is perfect for spying. How about it? You guys up for it? It's going to be dangerous going into enemy territory, and you know what'll happen if we get caught."

"Hang on, _A_-rank?" Ino questioned. Kiyoko checked to make sure the door was closed before pushing up her sleeve to show them her ANBU tattoo.

"I got promoted a few months ago. I couldn't tell you before because I'd be kicked off the squad if everyone knew I was an ANBU," she told her friends. Akamaru let out a few barks.

"Translation?" Kiyoko asked Kiba.

"Basically, 'Bring it on'," Kiba laughed. "And I second that."

"Third," Hinata added. Ino nodded. "And I fourth that. When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning. Thanks guys. I knew you wouldn't let me down," Kiyoko smiled. When she arrived at the gates, thinking she was an hour or so early, her team was already waiting for her.

"Is that you, Kiyoko-chan?" Hinata asked. Kiyoko lifted her mask to show her face and said, "Yeah, but once we officially start the mission, it's Shirotaka."

Then she tossed each of them a small backpack. Ino opened hers and pulled out a simple, brown tunic. "What's this?"

"When we get to Iwagakure, we'll need disguises. These'll work, and unless we do something stupid, they won't be able to identify us as ninjas," Kiyoko explained. After going over their formation and general plan, they set off on their two day journey to the Hidden Rock Village.

* * *

**Shiori's blurb:**

First off here's the translations for the zodiacs: _Ne_ is rat, _Ushi_ is ox, _Tora_ is tiger, _U_ is hare, _Tatsu_ is dragon, _Mi_ is serpent, _Uma_ is horse, _Hitsuji_ ram/sheep, _Saru_ is monkey, _Tori_ is rooster, _Inu_ is dog, and _I_ is boar/pig. (also note: for _Shirotaka_, shiro means white and taka means falcon or hawk)

Okay, for the stuff about the ANBU, almost all of it is accurate (info from various fan sites). I made up the stuff about the different branches to fit the storyline better. Thanks to **AnimeKaiser** and **Y.Mitsuki** for reviewing. Next chapter: **Crouching Falcon, Hidden Leaf**


	7. Ch 7: Crouching Falcon, Hidden Rock

**Chapter 7: Crouching Falcon, Hidden Rock**

Arriving at the village, the four of them donned their disguises and broke into two teams; Ino and Kiyoko, and Kiba and Hinata. Their first three days spying revealed the number of shinobi that would be attacking the Fire Country, when they would be attacking, the jutsus they would be using, and even their strategy. They didn't, however, know where they would be attacking from. A counter attack would be impossible if they didn't know where they were coming from.

"The location of the attack seems to be classified," Ino said. "I think our only option is to sneak into their mission room and find the scroll with that information on it."

"Do you have any idea how risky that is?" Kiba put in. "I say we keep up with what we're doing."

"No, I think Ino's right. We've been here for three days. Our time is running out. We need to get that information. Tonight," Kiyoko said firmly. Hinata nodded. "I agree with Kiyok-_er_-Shirotaka. It's essential that we complete our mission as soon as we can so the Hokage-sama can plan a defense," she said. When darkness fell, the team crept silently towards the building where they would hopefully gain their last piece of information without being killed. As they climbed silently over the large rocks outside the Iwagakure ninja headquarters, Kiyoko suddenly became aware of a presence.

"Hinata, Kiba," she hissed. "Company."

They nodded in understanding. Kiba and Akamaru sniffed the air and Hinata activated her Byakugan. Akamaru bumped Kiba's leg with his nose and growled quietly.

"I agree," he whispered to the dog before turning to the others. "We only smell one of them."

"There, behind those rocks," Hinata confirmed, pointing. "He's heading towards us. I don't think he knows we're on to him."

"Be ready to attack, but only when I give the order," Kiyoko said. A bead of sweat dripped down her face beneath the mask, and her heart thudded with an adrenaline rush. Hinata kept staring intently at the unknown ninja, telling them exactly what he was doing. Ino gripped her kunai in anticipation, and Kiba and Akamaru took on the appearance of two guard dogs ready to rip apart any intruder. When the shinobi came into view, it became apparent that he was going to attack.

"We're fighting our way out of this. Lead him away from here so we don't attract attention. Go!" Kiyoko ordered, almost shouting the last part. They slowly lead him away from the village, into an outcropping of rocks that was inconvienient for fighting, but would have to do. He was good, too. Even with the four of them against him, they were having a hard time subduing the raven haired rock-nin. He formed a seal and dust began to swirl around the four, completely obscuring their visions.

"_Kuso!_ I can't see a thing," Kiba cursed. The others shouted to each other, blindly fumbling around.

"My Byakugan can't see through this!" Hinata gasped to Kiyoko's left. Then, strangely, everyone's voices grew softer and softer until she could hear nothing but the swirling dust and her heartbeat pounding in her ears like a drum. _Shit, what the hell is going on?_ Kiyoko drew out a handful of shuriken, ready to throw, as the maelstrom of dirt began to clear. The black-haired ninja was nowhere to be seen or sensed.

"Ino!" she called out, seeing her friend lying facedown on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Carefully, Kiyoko turned her friend over and gave a sharp intake of breath at the sight of Ino's blue eyes staring blankly upwards, glazed over with death, her throat slashed open. Kiyoko's eyes filled with tears. Her best friend, dead. _Nanni? This is all my fault. I should have protected her._

"_Ki...yo...ko..._"

The pale ANBU whipped around looking for the source of the voice. It was Hinata, struggling to pull herself across the ground, leaving a scarlet smear behind her.

"What happened, Hinata? Where are you hurt?"

She cringed and choked out, "Chest," before collapsing in Kiyoko's lap.

"No! Stay with me, Hinata! We'll get through this!" she exclaimed, though she knew it was pointless. Her friend's entire chest was ripped open, like a giant claw had come in and scooped out half of her torso. A few moments later, she was gone. Kiyoko set her down gently and began to search for Kiba and Akamaru. Hopefully they had escaped the fate that claimed the lives of two of her best friends. When she found them, it was too late. Kiba's body was crushed beneath the heavy boulders that had fallen on him. Kiyoko used her earth jutsu to lift the pile, only to reveal a small, bloody, white and brown figure beside him. She dragged the bodies of her friends so they were lying next to each other, and wept beneath her mask.

"_It's your fault_."

"Who's there?" Kiyoko demanded, searching wildly for the source of the voices that seemed to come from everywhere at once. "Show yourself!"

"_Why didn't you protect your friends?_"

"I-I couldn't..." she stammered. The voices changed, becoming lower and angrier.

"_You brought us here. It was your responsibility to keep us alive. You were supposed to keep us safe. You killed us!_"

Kiyoko screamed as a hand grabbed her roughly by the arm. Hinata's hand! Her eyes were white, and not from her Byakugan. They were the white that comes from death. Another hand grabbed her, Ino. Using her ANBU skills, she twisted and leapt back. The three of them attacked like animals. What the hell was going on? Someone had to be controlling the bodies of her friends to make them attack her, yet she sensed absolutely no chakra coming from them. They were definately dead. Their chakra and souls were absent. The only thing left that Kiyoko could sense was an intense, overwhelming intent to kill. Together, they drove countless kunai into Kiyoko's body. She was unable to fight back against the three of them. Ino's hands wrapped around her throat and squeezed, her face curling into a maniacal grin.

"Die, leaf trash."

_Leaf trash? Huh? Wait!_ Kiyoko lifted her hands up to form a seal, then used the very last bit of air in her lungs to wheeze, "_Dis...pel!_"

The world around her swirled and disappeared. She watched as Ino's face disappeared, being replaced by the black haired rock nin's. Kiyoko kicked out and sent him flying.

"You broke through my Visions of Terror genjutsu," he smirked. Kiyoko growled like an angry tora and lunged at him. He brought his foot up to meet her face, and her ANBU mask flew off.

"Kiyoko! Are you okay?" she heard Ino shout. Hearing her friend's very much living voice made Kiyoko want to jump up and hug her comrade. She had other matters to attend to though, like that rock bastard. Wiping the blood off her mouth, she looked up at him menacingly. To her surprise, he dropped his weapons and his mouth fell open.

"_...Izumi..._?!"

* * *

**Shiori's blurbs:**

I'm sorry about this one being so unbelievably short! I'm leaving for the weekend so I figured I'd post a short chapter rather than take forever writing a full one when I get back. Anyway... so who is this mysterious rock ninja? Who's Izumi? Find out next time when Kiyoko's full past is revealed! **Next Chapter: The Truth**


	8. Ch 8: The Truth

**Chapter 8: The Truth**

"Izumi?!" exclaimed the black haired rock nin. "But...but...you were dead!"

"Kiyoko, what's going on?" asked Kiba. Kiyoko grabbed the rock ninja by the collar of his shirt and demanded, "Who are you and why do you know me?"

"Christ, Izumi, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Kiyoko pulled him towards her so their faces were nearly touching and growled, "Who am I?"

He reached for a blade at his waist, but Kiyoko grabbed it from him. It was a very fancy dagger that had little red dragons with tiny gems for eyes carved into the hilt. She ripped her eyes from the blade to look up at her captive and gasped, "Haru?"

"Kiyoko-chan, do you know this guy?" Hinata asked. Kiyoko let go of 'Haru' and used her stone binding to restrain his arms and legs. As he twisted and struggled to free himself, she noticed a tattoo on his neck. It was the kanjis for 'elite' and 'captain'. She doubled over, clutching her head as everything came crashing back to her like water from a broken dam.

* * *

**(Flashback)**

"Good job in training today, Haru," Izumi said, clapping him on the back. He scowled.

"The only reason you keep beating me is because of that damn Tsuchiketsueki bloodline limit of yours. I should be the one getting the position as captain of the Elite Squad."

"Lighten up, man," Soka laughed, his brown hair flapping in the wind. "They haven't even announced it yet. It could still end up being you."

Haru just grumbled incoherently. They all knew that the Tsuchiketsueki clan was the most powerful in the village. They all knew that Izumi, the only daughter of _the_ Tsuchikage, was going to be the one getting the promotion to captain. When they entered the missions center, the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure was waiting for them.

"Izumi, Haru, and Soka, I have a mission for you. I want you to go to the Hidden Leaf Village and collect information on their defenses. Find out their weaknesses so we can ready our military for an attack. They're weak from their recent encounter with the Hidden Sound. We need to hit them while they're recovering," he explained. "This is going to be an off-the-record mission, so don't wear your forehead protectors or anything else that will identify you as shinobi of the Hidden Rock Village."

"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama," Izumi bowed.

Several days later, they stood outside the gates of Konoha. Their mission was complete. They had all of Konoha's strategies and defenses. It had been almost pathetically simple getting in. Izumi turned to stare at the monument of Konoha's kages. _Quite impressive. Iwagakure should have something like that._ It seemed almost a shame to annihilate it. _Almost_. She shook herself out of her thoughts and said, "C'mon, let's go. We're done here."

She smiled and added, "We can probably cut the time down by half a day if we hurry; I want to get home. I'm starting to miss seeing mountains and rocks instead of these damn trees."

Soka put a hand on Izumi's shoulder.

"Sorry, Izzy. Not this time."

"Excuse me?" Izumi laughed softly. She had no time to react. Soka struck her head with the handle of his kunai, disorienting her for a moment. Izumi fell to her knees and felt him pin her arms behind her back. Haru stepped up to her and pressed the tip of his trademark Dagger of the Red Dragons, given to him by the Tsuchikage himself, against her throat.

"Betrayal doesn't become you, Haru," Izumi growled. Haru glared and pressed the dagger harder against her throat.

"You're in no position to be throwing insults, Izumi-_hime_," he spat mockingly. "I'm going to kill you, you know."

"I figured that."

"And you don't even want to know why?" he asked with a trace of amusement.

"You're jealous because I'm the better ninja," Izumi said matter-of-factly. A flash of rage shot across Haru's face. He slashed her in the arm with his dagger. Izumi winced, but didn't make a noise. She just looked her 'friend' in the eye, and spat in his face. Haru punched her in the face hard enough that Izumi knew it was probably broken. She groaned and slumped against Soka's grip. Haru may have been a treacherous bastard, but he was was known for being able to pack a punch to rival Tsunade-sama's.

"Dammit, Haru, just finish it," Soka said nervously, shifting uncomfortably. Haru glared at him. "I've been waiting for this for a very long time. I'll do it at my own speed."

He formed a seal and pressed two fingers to Izumi's forehead. He grinned and whispered, "_Thousand Needles Agony_."

The helpless Izumi screamed out as the searing pain of a thousand white-hot needles ripped through her body. She fell to the ground shaking like a leaf, but Haru wasn't finished yet.

"_Chakra Blade Whips_."

Haru's chakra shot out of him in thin strings, slashing across her body like serrated whips. They crisscrossed her back with bleeding lacerations, as well as on her arms, legs, and face. They didn't call him 'Haru of the Dragon Whips' for nothing. As she lied on the ground, bruised and bloody, Izumi made out the form of Haru's feet in front of her face. Already half passed out from pain and blood loss, she barely noticed when Haru delivered a chakra-powered kick to her head. Then everything went mercifully dark and she felt no more.

* * *

"Kiyoko, are you okay?" Ino asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Kiyoko nodded and stood up, walking over to Haru. 

"You bastard!" she shouted, punching him in the face. "You little, goddam snake! You stole my life! Over a stupid promotion!"

"What are you talking about?" Kiba asked in confusion. "Who is this guy, Kiyoko?"

"My name isn't Kiyoko. It's Izumi," she said, and explained the quick version of what she'd just learned. When she finished, her teammates just looked at her, speechless. Kiyoko turned to Haru and grabbed him by the hair.

"So why didn't you just finish me, huh? Too much of a coward to do the dirty work?" she spat. Haru glared at her and said, "Unfortunately, we were forced to leave when we heard a guard coming. You were dead, though. I made sure."

"Well, I'm alive alright, thanks to the legendary doctors of Konoha. I may not have had a pulse when you left me there, but I sure as hell wasn't ready to die. Not before I killed you first. By rights, I should just slit your throat right now, Haru-_kun_," she hissed. "But I'm not like you."

Kiyoko released him from his stone binding. Ino gasped, "What are you doing?"

"Settling this once and for all," she said. "I'm going to prove to you, Haru, that I have always been and will always be the better fighter. It doesn't matter who my family is anymore. Izumi is dead. You killed her. My name is Kiyoko, and I am a kunoichi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"Then you're a traitor to the Earth Country. The penalty for treason is death, and need I remind you that one of the jobs I have as the E.S. _captain_ is executionor." Haru smirked.

"Need _I_ remind _you_ that the punishment attempting to murder a fellow Earth Ninja is also death, Haru?" Kiyoko pointed out threateningly.

"To the death, then," Haru said. Kiyoko nodded and told her friends to stay back, this was their fight. Haru summoned his chakra whips and flicked them tauntingly. Kiyoko formed her _Iwa Tsume no Jutsu_. They lunged at each other, full of rage and hatred. Haru shot one of his whips out and it wrapped around her taloned hand. Kiyoko dodged the other whip while still tethered by the first one. She gathered her chakra to her feet and leapt into the sky, pulling the whip from Haru's hand. Then she shot down at him, like a white falcon taking her prey, and pinned him to the ground. He put his feet to her stomach and tossed her off with a strong kick. Kiyoko somersaulted backwards and got to her feet just in time to avoid another pass from his whips. Haru could make them as long or short as he wanted since they were made of his chakra, so avoiding them was extremely tricky. She jumped over him and landed on top of a boulder.

"_Doton: Rakuseki!_" ('Earth Element: Falling Rocks')

The rocks she was standing on began to tumble down towards Haru. Kiyoko rode the stones like a surfer and shouted, "_Iwa Enbannage!_" ('Rock Discus Throw')

She hurled stone after stone at him with an almost untrackable speed, yet his whips moved at an equally rapid speed, slicing them in half before they hit him. Haru feigned to the left and rolled to the right, flinging both whips out to wrap around her waist and leg. _Oh shit, not this again_. Haru brought her high up into the air and flung her as hard as he could. It was the chuunin exams all over again, except for this time she managed to somewhat cushion her fall by summoning some dirt to catch her.

"As soon as I kill you," Haru taunted, "I'll kill your friends, too."

Kiyoko took off the ANBU arm protectors and fingerless gloves she was wearing and threw them to the ground.

"I won't let you touch them, you coward! Let's finish this!" Kiyoko called out to him. She reached into her kunai pouch, and felt around. _Kuso, where is it?! I must've dropped it during the fight._ Looking around frantically, she was almost hit by another lash of Haru's deadly whips as it grazed the air by her face. Then she spotted the object of her search on the ground fifty meters away.

"Kiba! Toss me that flask!"

It was a small sake container, compliments of Tsunade-sama. He picked it up and shouted back, "This is hardly the time for a drink, Kiyoko!"

She caught the flask and uncorked it while ducking and dodging Haru's relentless attacks. _Doesn't he ever get tired? Apparently not_. Taking a large swig of the liquid, but being careful not to swallow any, she did the seals for a simple fire jutsu. Kiyoko held the small bit of flame she conjured above her head and blew a fine mist from her mouth at it. It exploded into a gigantic ball of fire in the air over them. This was her _coup de grace_ technique. It was the most powerful jutsu in her arsenal of attacks, but it was a double edged blade. Though it would defeat Haru easily, her chakra would be completely depleted and it would drain all of her energy to a dangerously low, possibly deadly, level. Kiyoko was willing to take the chance, though, if it meant the safety of her friends.

"_Gogyou Gassuru: Kasairyuu!_" ('Combine Elements: Volcanic Eruption')

A huge wall of earth rose up from the ground and collided with the fire. The two fused together to form a mass of flaming volcanic rock. Kiyoko summoned up a dome of earth to cover her friends before closing her eyes and concentrating on forcing all of her chakra into the mass while creating a whirlwind of stones around her to shield herself from Haru's attacks. The effort of concentrating so much chakra was making little white spots pinprick her vision, but she ignored it and just concentrated harder.

"_Shuukyoku Jutsu: Haitsuchi!_" ('Finishing Jutsu: Ashes and Earth')

A cloud of ashes began to descend on Haru like a swarm of insects while the flaming ball of earth broke into smaller rocks that rose up into the air. Kiyoko let out a cry as she slammed her hands against the ground. Trapped by the cloud of ashes, Haru didn't even see when the flaming chunks of magma flung themselves at him. He let out a scream as the heavy earth crushed him. Kiyoko released her hold on the jutsu and the flames immediately disappeared. Her entire body shaking, she lifted the wreckage and tossed it aside before staggering over to the motionless form of Haru. Miraculously, he was still alive, but barely.

"Izumi," he rasped. "I'm sorry... I-Izzy."

Kiyoko knealt down and lifted his head into her lap. She brushed a stray piece of black hair from his face. "I forgive you, Haru."

With a trembling hand, he took out his Dagger of the Dragons and handed it to her. "Goodbye...Izumi."

Haru's body went limp in her arms and Kiyoko blinked as tears filled her eyes. He may have betrayed her, but before that he had been her closest friend. She gently closed his eyes and held his body close to her, crying, until Hinata came and touched her arm.

"Kiyoko-chan? Are you okay?"

Kiyoko nodded and Ino handed her ANBU mask to her. Wiping the blood, sweat, and tears from her face, she tried to stand but was unable to. The jutsu had completely drained her. Kiba scolded her and told her to rest for a moment. Nuzzling her arm with his wet nose, Akamaru deposited her discarded flask in her lap. Smiling sadly, she patted the puppy on the head and said, "Thanks, boy."

Kiba picked up the container and sniffed the opening. He jerked his head back at the strong smell and wrinkled his nose. "What _is_ this stuff anyway?"

"A special blend of over a dozen different fire excelerants. Plus sake to make it taste better," she explained. By now she was recovered enough to hobble clumbsily to her feet. Ino held Kiyoko's arm and helped gather her arm protectors and gloves. As she was redoing the straps of the arm protectors, Kiyoko spotted a few early-blooming flowers poking up from the dirt. She picked them and tied the small bouquet together with a strip of cloth from her shirt. She carefully set them on Haru's lifeless chest and said a quick prayer for him. Kiba put a hand on her shoulder and reminded her that the sun was already begining to rise, so they needed to leave quickly.

"Hai. We need to head back to Konoha as soon as possible," she nodded. "I'll need someone to carry me for awhile, though. I can't keep up with you guys in this condition. Once we've put some distance between us and Iwagakure, we'll stop and I'll explain everything."

* * *

After an hour of riding piggyback, courtesy of Kiba, Kiyoko announced that they would stop for a bit. Leaning against a tree, she sighed and said, "I suppose I owe you guys an explanation." 

She took a deep breath and began, "My real name is Tsuchiketsueki Izumi. I grew up in the Hidden Rock Village and I'm the only child of the Tsuchikage. My clan possesses the Tsuchiketsueki, or Earth Blood, bloodline limit. That's why I can control the earth element so easily and do some of my jutsus without hand seals. The ninja I just fought is Motozumi Haru, my old teammate and best friend."

"Then why was he trying to kill you?" Ino asked.

"I'm getting to that," Kiyoko stated. "Almost exactly a year ago, I was given a mission. The mission was to infiltrate Konoha and steal its military secrets, just like what we were assigned to do here. Haru and my other teammate Soka had other plans, though. Haru was jealous of me. He thought that I got special treatment because of who my father was. He was right, too. We were both competing for the position of captain of the Elite Squad, which is kind of like the ANBU. Being the head of the Elite Squad was a very high up, honorable postition that every young ninja dreamed of. Everyone knew that I was going to be chosen over Haru. He said it was only because I was the Tsuchikage's daughter. I still don't know whether or not that was the case. Anyway, we carried out our mission without any complications and were about to leave Konoha when they attacked me. With me out of the way, Haru would become captain, which he did. That was what the tattoo on his neck was. After they left me there, a guard found me and rushed me to the hospital. That's when I became Kiyoko."

She sank down to the ground and pulled her knees into her chest, burying her face.

"Now I don't know who I am anymore. Izumi of Iwagakure, or Kiyoko of Konoha? I'm a traitor in both villages," she said bitterly. They looked at her in confusion.

"Don't you guys get it? This big attack on Konoha that we're preparing for is because of _me_!" she shouted angrily. "_I_ was the one who broke into the mission room and spent hours copying down every weakness that could possibly be used against the Fire Country in an attack! If I go back to Konoha, I'll be arrested! I can't go back to the Earth Country either! I've spent the past year as a ninja of the village that my country is at war with! In the last couple months, I've killed _six_ Earth Country spies as an ANBU of Konoha! Somehow I doubt they're going to just forget about that little detail! I'm a criminal in both of my homes."

Half of her was still Izumi, daughter of the most powerful ninja of the Earth Country, who had always been taught that the Fire Country was the evil enemy of all Rock ninjas. The other half was Kiyoko, the fifteen year old shinobi with no family connections at all, who had found friendship and kindness in Konoha. In Iwagakure, Izumi was practically royalty. She had the respect, if not fear, of all the most important politicians and leaders of the country. Her days were spent doing high end missions and attending important meetings. In Konohagakure, Kiyoko was a kunoichi of no particular importance. She made enough money from her missions to pay rent in Naruto's apartment and still afford a few small luxuries, but that was about it. Most of her friends were genins or chuunins, not senators and nobles. But in Konoha, she was always treated as an equal, not like some princess. In Konoha she had a ton of friends who loved her. The question was, which was more important to her; loyal to her friends or loyalty to her home country? She thought about it and came to her decision. It was going to be hard for her, but she knew what she had to do. She stood up and turned to her friends with a look of grim resolve.

"My name...is Kiyoko," she said. "I'm going back to Konoha and turning myself in to Tsunade-sama."

* * *

**Shiori's Blurbs:**

Whew, so we finally found out all about Kiyoko/Izumi's past. Well anyways, enjoy and don't forget to review! Shiori luvs the reviews.


	9. Ch 9: To Protect Those I Love

**Chapter 9: To Protect Those I Love**

**Edit:** I was re-reading some of the earlier chapters and I noticed a typo in chapter 2. I said that Kiyoko was about 15, and Naruto and co. are 14. I meant to say that Kiyoko was about 14, and the others are about 13 (also note that it's about a year later, so Kiyoko is _now_ 15). That makes things a bit easier, and doesn't mess with the timeline as badly. Sorry for the confusion.

**Also:** this one is slightly graphic(ish) towards the end but nothing bad.

* * *

"My name...is Kiyoko," she said. "I'm going back to Konoha and turning myself in to Tsunade-sama." 

"Are you insane?!" Ino exclaimed. "You'll be killed for sure!"

"I know. I thought of that. It's worth taking the risk, though," Kiyoko said with a firm conviction that didn't match the knot of fear twisting in her stomach.

"Why? Why is going back to Konoha worth losing your life?" Kiba demanded. Kiyoko clenched her hands until her nails made little crescents of blood on her palms. "This entire attack is my doing. If Konoha falls while I run away in fear of my life, I don't deserve to live. I know how the Earth military works, so I'm the only one who can stop them. If it is decided that I must die as punishment for my crimes, so be it. A ninja does not fear death. This is a war. People die in wars, that's the way things are. Whether it's my fate to die in battle or by execution, at least I won't die a coward. I've chosen my side."

They fell silent, realizing the truth in their friend's words. They knew that no matter what Kiyoko chose, she would get hurt. She silently placed her ANBU mask over her face and retied it. The familiar feel of the cool porcelain gave her renewed confidence in what she had to do. _I am Kiyoko, the White Falcon of Konoha_.

"We need to get back to Konoha as quickly as we can. In eight days, the Earth Country will begin their attack on our home. Konohagakure is still two full days away, so by the time we get there the village will have only six days to prepare," Kiyoko reminded them.

"Then we'll make double time," Hinata said. "If we don't stop at night, we can probably cut our travel time in half."

"Hn. We can use me and Akamaru's soldier pills to give us the endurance we need," Kiba added. They all nodded and immediately shot off, leaping from boulder to boulder at an urgent speed as the sun rose over the Hidden Rock Village far behind them. By dawn of the following day, they were begining to show signs of weariness, even with the soldier pills, but they went through the day without slowing down and pushed themselves through the following night, stopping only for brief rests to take another energy pill and catch their breaths. When they finally spotted Konoha in the distance, only miles away, they forgot their aching bodies and sped up like sprinters in the last few meters of a race. They went straight to Tsunade's office and knocked urgently on the door. She opened it to find the five of them, still panting from the journey, covered in dirt, blood, and sweat.

"Report," she barked shortly.

"Six days," Ino huffed, and Kiyoko proceeded to give her all the details they had collected on the attack.

"Damn, I was hoping we had more time," Tsunade cursed, scribbling a hasty message onto a scroll. She handed it to a guard and ordered him to take it to the head of the ANBU. Then she dismissed the exhausted team, telling them to go to the medics and get themselves patched up, but to be ready to return as soon as they were summoned. Kiyoko, however, stayed behind. She took off her mask and sighed, "Hokage-sama, there's something else you need to know."

She spent the next hour telling her all about their encounter with Haru, her sudden recovery of memory, and her affiliations with the Earth Country. When she finished, Kiyoko couldn't meet Tsunade's eyes. She felt so guilty. She untied her headband and set it on her desk.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. I don't deserve this."

Tsunade closed her eyes and rubbed her temple. She didn't know how to handle this.

"Why did you choose Konoha over Hidden Rock, the place where you grew up? I just don't get it," she stated.

"To tell you the truth, I don't quite know myself. When I thought of going back to my old life, I felt this sense of dread. Then I remembered every kind thing this village has done for me. You guys took me in and made me a part of the village. As Izumi, I was only interested in power; becoming stronger so I could surpass my father and prove that I was more than the spoiled child of a Kage. I did whatever it took to bring me closer to my goal of becoming Tsuchikage, even if it hurt someone I loved," she explained. _Like Haru and Soka_.

"And now?"

"Now I can see how stupid I was. In Konoha, I don't have to prove myself to everyone for them to see that I'm strong. Here, I know that I got where I am because of hard work and talent, not just because my father is the Tsuchikage. It's like I know exactly who I am when I'm in Konohagakure. I know I don't deserve it though. People in Konoha are going to die because of the information I collected a year ago. I didn't come back expecting to be automatically forgiven, or even for you to spare my life. My life isn't worth sparing. I came back because the thought of everyone in Konoha being destroyed in this attack made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't let anything happen to the people I love. I'm the only one who knows everything about their tactics. I know all their attack strategies because I helped design them. I came back to save Konoha. I don't care whether I die or not."

Kiyoko dropped to her knees and bowed until her head nearly touched the ground for shame. Tsunade looked down at the kunoichi in front of her in pity. She was only fourteen, maybe fifteen, years of age. Still just a kid. She seemed much older. In normal villages, girls this age would be out with a group of friends giggling about some boy, not caught up in the middle of a war. It wasn't fair, but that was the life of a ninja. Tsunade sighed and touched Kiyoko's shoulder. She looked up at the older woman with a dead look on her face. A look that said she didn't care what happened to her. Tsunade handed Kiyoko's headband back to her.

"I think you'll be needing this," she said. "Join your teammates at the hospital and wait for my orders. I'm placing you in charge of organizing a counter-strike against the Earth Country."

"T-thank you, Tsunade-sama," she stuttered in relief. Tsunade smiled.

"Do this thing right, and everything you just told me won't even be mentioned in the records."

Kiyoko couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tsunade had just told her that she'd wipe her slate completely clean if she helped them. She wanted to hug the lady, but instead retied her headband and hurried out the door.

* * *

_There's something different about her_, Harumi concluded as she performed various healing jutsus on her white-haired ex-patient. She seemed both happier and sadder than when she left the hospital a year ago. Her appearence hadn't changed much; her hair was a bit longer, and she had a few new scars. Kiyoko caught her favourite nurse staring at her and cocked an eyebrow. 

"What?"

"I can't figure out what's different about you. You haven't grown an inch, but there's something older about you," she said thoughtfully. Kiyoko opened her mouth to tell her it was probably the ANBU uniform or something, but Ino, Kiba, Hinata, and strangely, Shino, Tenten, and Sakura chose that moment to burst in and demand all at once what happened with Tsunade. Shino put a hand on her shoulder and said, "I apologize for not being around to go on this mission with you. I was gone on clan business with my father."

"That's okay," Kiyoko said, discretely slipping her ANBU mask further under the sheets of the bed she was seated on. No need to shock them with that. Yet.

"So what happened with Tsunade?" Tenten demanded, looking worried.

"How did you find out about that?"

"Well, I was here working and saw Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru, and Ino getting all bandaged up," Sakura said, "So I came in and asked what happened."

"Threatened is more like it," Ino muttered and Sakura shot her a look. Kiyoko just shrugged and told Ino not to worry about it. Sakura explained that the she told the other girls what happened, plus Shino since he was a teammember, because they were all worried.

"So what _did_ Tsunade say?" Kiba asked. Kiyoko smiled and informed her friends about the good news. Well, the semi-good news anyway.

"An attack? On Konoha?" Tenten gasped. Kiyoko nodded grimly then said, "Listen, guys, I have some stuff to tell you. You're all my closest friends, so I think you deserve to know. No more secrets."

They all listened in awe as she told them everything, including her being a enemy shinobi of the Earth Country. They took it surprisingly well.

"I've been assigned to plan the defense of the village. That and the fact that I'm ANBU means I'll probably end up at the front of the lines during the actual battle. I have less than six days to plan this thing, so I'm more than a little nervous. I need you guys more than ever now."

"Don't worry, just tell us what you want us to do and we're there," Shino assured her. Hinata spoke up for once and asked, "Kiyoko-chan, won't you get in trouble for telling everyone about being ANBU?"

Kiyoko just shook her head. "It's not like it was going to stay a secret for very long. How many white haired, fifteen year old, five foot one kunoichi are there in Konoha?"

They all laughed, more to relieve the tension that had gathered in the room than anything else. Just then, Yuugao entered the room and told Kiyoko that she needed to report to the missions room immediately. All the laughter in the room disappeared faster than Naruto at the mention of the word 'ramen', and the four of them hurried away.

* * *

"They'll move out from Iwagakure two days from now, make their way southeast to Taki in the Waterfall Country for the night, then continue southeast to the border of the Rice Field Country and stopping for a day before heading south to Konoha," Kiyoko explained, pointing to each place in turn on a large map covering the wall. 

"Why are they going almost a full days journey out of the way instead of going directly through the Grass Country as they've done before?" questioned one of the ANBU present.

"It's a new strategy they've developed, hoping to catch us off-guard. The terrain is more rocky north of Konoha, which gives them a huge advantage," she told them, not mentioning that it was she who helped develop the plan in the first place. "The first wave of attack will take place five days from now and will consist of twelve nine-person teams. These teams will consist of their most experienced chuunin with one jounin per team. That's 108 ninjas total, for those of you who don't have a calculator, 96 chuunin and 12 jounin. Their jobs will be to set a series of explosives around the walls of Konoha to do a lot of damage quickly and incite panic. The second strike will take place immediately after that. Every available ninja from Iwagakure will enter the village and begin the final strike. Their orders are simple: destroy as much as possible and kill anyone in their path. With the Fire Country's shinobi out of the way, overtaking the rest of the country will be simple. That's their plan anyway."

Kiyoko almost smiled at the intense feeling of excitement that came from planning an attack, something that she'd almost forgotten in her year as a subordinate. This was the fun part of being a shinobi. She looked around at the determination present on the faces of all the jounin, chuunin, and special jounin gathered. _This is what it's all about; protecting our fellow ninjas and defending our home_.

"We also have come to believe that there is another purpose for stopping at the Rice Field's border," she added. "As you all know, the Hidden Sound Village lays somewhere in the Rice Field Country. It is likely that Orochimaru has had a hand in this. We think whatever explosives they'll be using are his making, so they're bound to be pretty nasty. We uncovered sketchy information mentioning some kind of large-scale summoning as well," she stated.

"Snakes," barked a brown-haired special jounin. Anko, she thought her name was. "His summoning animal is the snake."

Kiyoko nodded. It made sense. She began to explain her strategy. They would first try and take out as many of those bombs as they could. A dozen five-person cells would have the job of finding the twelve explosives and stop them from going off. Then they would rejoin the rest of the village's ninjas in fighting off the second wave.

"We have four days to prepare for this, not including tonight. I suggest we notify the village tonight and then get to work organizing the twelve first-wave cells. I will lead one of these teams myself," Kiyoko stated. The meeting adjourned a few minutes later, and Tsunade began sending out scrolls to all the various clans and families of Konoha, telling them of the attack. Word always travels quickly, especially in a ninja village. By the time Kiyoko finally was able to trudge tiredly home three hours after the meeting, it seemed the entire town was buzzing with talk of the coming battle. Unfortunately, battle wasn't the only thing being whispered about. Somehow, it had slipped out that Kiyoko was of the Earth Country.

_"That's her, the one from Iwagakure."_

_"Traitor."_

_"Daughter of the Tsuchikage, I heard."_

_"Can she be trusted? I doubt it."_

She pretended not to hear them and just made her way silently down the street towards her home. Dumping her stuff on the couch, Kiyoko went straight into the bathroom and ran a scalding hot shower. When she got out of the bathroom, her skin was bright red from the heat, but she didn't care. Her body demanded sleep, and she was happy to comply. The following morning, she left the apartment to go train. Actually, she first had to seek out a certain sensei she had been working with for help. Kiyoko concentrated on locating said ninja's chakra signature and picked it up on the outskirts of town.

"Kakashi-sensei, I need your help."

"Well, good morning to you, too," said the masked ninja, arching his visible eye in what Kiyoko had come to recognize as a smile. She had been working with Kakashi on a summoning technique, like the one he used to summon his ninja dogs.

"Do you have the scroll with you?" he asked, turning serious in an instant. Kiyoko tapped the large scroll on her back in answer. She took it out and unrolled it. Her name was written in blood above the crimson handprint. On the scroll was also the summoning jutsu pattern, the center stained with many layers of bloody fingerprints from repeated use.

"I see you've been practicing. Let's see what you've got."

Kiyoko nodded and pricked her finger with her kunai. She formed the required seals and brought her hand down on the scroll. There was a puff of smoke, which Kiyoko waved away. She groaned in frustration at the small red-tailed hawk she had summoned.

"See, I can only get this little thing. I need one bigger. Something that can carry me during the battle in four days," she explained, and dispeled the hawk in a second cloud of smoke. Kakashi tapped his chin lazily.

"Hm, maybe try putting more chakra into it. Try using a bit more blood, too. The predatorary animal summonings require more blood a lot of times," he suggested. Kiyoko sliced across her palm this time, wincing at the sudden sharp pain. She waited for the blood to seep out before doing the seals. Again, she brought her hand down onto the scroll, but this time, she focused on pushing more chakra into the blood. This _had_ to work. She needed to protect her village, and to do that, she needed help. She pictured a massive hawk and concentrated as hard as she could on the image. Kiyoko jumped back in surprise, landing on her butt, as a huge cloud of smoke appeared. From the cloud stepped a gigantic falcon as tall as a tree.

"I did it! Yosh!" Kiyoko cheered. The bird looked down at her, and Kiyoko felt intimidated, suddenly aware of just how big those talons were. She looked nervously behind her for Kakashi. He was gone. _Stupid ero-sensei probably went somewhere to read his precious porno_. (ero-sensei means 'perverted teacher')

"Such sad and beautiful thoughts, coming from one so young," the falcon boomed, and Kiyoko realized that the falcon boss was female. "I am Takachi Soraku." (_Taka_ is 'falcon' or 'hawk', _chi_ is 'thousand', _Sora_ is 'sky', and _ku_ is 'eternal'. So _Takachi_ means 'A Thousand Falcons', and _Soraku_ means 'Eternal Sky')

"K-Kiyoko. Just Kiyoko, Soraku-sama."

The great bird tilted her head and said, "A girl with a sad soul and no family name, who only has thoughts of protecting her friends. That is why I answered your summon. I felt your plea for help in saving those you hold dear to you. What is it that troubles you, pure child?" (Kiyoko means 'pure child')

Kiyoko explained about the attack, and how she wanted to use the falcon's wings to fight from above and help save her village from destruction. When she finished her tale, she could swear Soraku was smiling at her. Then she spoke.

"Do another summoning. Use the name Suzune."

Kiyoko nodded and did the jutsu, pressing her still bleeding hand to the scroll once again. She called the name Suzune in her mind and a second falcon appeared. This one was nowhere as big as Soraku, only about a foot taller than Kiyoko. When the falcon spoke, she saw that this one was also female.

"Hello, mother," she said, raising a wing in greeting Soraku.

"Suzune, I am placing you as the personal summon of this kunoichi," said Soraku to Suzune, then turned to Kiyoko. "This is Suzune, my eldest daughter. During your battle, summon her and she will aid you."

"Battle? What battle?" Suzune demanded, looking from Kiyoko to Soraku. Soraku vanished in a cloud of chakra smoke, leaving Suzune and Kiyoko alone. Suzune ruffled her feathers indignantly, but then stuck out a wing and said, "Nice to meet you, shinobi-san. So what battle are we fighting in?"

Kiyoko shook the outstretched wing, mentally laughing at the ridiculousness of shaking hands (or perhaps wings) with a bird, and said, "I'm Kiyoko, by the way."

She told Suzune about the attack happening in four days, and the young falcon appeared excited at the prospect of combat. For a falcon, she was surprisingly bubbly and friendly, matching her namesake perfectly (Suzune means sparrow). She sort of reminded Kiyoko of a certain hyperactive ninja she knew.

"So your plan is to locate and attack the enemy from above?"

"Hai, that's right."

"Well then, Kiyoko-chan, it looks like we're going for a ride," Suzune said with clear enthusiasm. "Climb on my back and hold on tight."

Moments later, Kiyoko was clinging for dear life on the back of a six foot hawk a hundred feet above the ground. At first, she was terrified, keeping her eyes squeezed shut. When she got used to the feeling, however, she opened her eyes and felt her heart jump into her mouth. _This is amazing, I can see all of Konoha from up here!_ When they landed, Kiyoko stumbled around dizzily for a moment. She rubbed her eyes, which were watering horribly from the rushing wind in her face during the flight.

"Ready for another go?" Suzune asked. Kiyoko nodded and Suzune added, "This time, try steering by leaning the way you want to turn. Lean forward to dive and backward to go higher."

The pair took to the sky again, soaring above the trees and rooftops of Konoha. Kiyoko practiced steering until she had it down perfectly. Then she spotted a building below her and shouted to Suzune above the wind, "Land on that building right there."

Suzune descended and landed gracefully on said rooftop. Kiyoko told her that she'd be right back and hopped down to the ground. She entered the establishment, which happened to be the weaponry and ninja apparel store where Tenten worked, and went up to the counter.

"Hey, Tenten-chan, I need a pair of goggles."

"Dude, what happened to your hair?" laughed Tenten. "You look like you just came out of a windtunnel."

"I'll show you later," Kiyoko told her, making a mental note to tie her hair up the next time she flew. She followed her friend to where the goggles were and selected a pair that would protect her eyes from the wind, but not look completely stupid on her. Then she led Tenten outside and jumped up onto the roof, motioning for her friend to follow.

"Holy crap!" Tenten exclaimed upon seeing the gigantic falcon.

"Hi, I'm Suzune. What's your name?" asked the bird cheerfully.

"Gyah! It talks!"

"Tenten-chan, this is Suzune-san. Suzune-san, this is Tenten-chan," Kiyoko introduced. "She's my awesome new animal summoning."

Suzune shook her feathers proudly at Kiyoko's compliment. Recovered from her initial shock, Tenten closed her gaping mouth and greeted the falcon. Then she turned back to Kiyoko and pulled out a scroll from her pocket.

"I almost forgot, Tsunade-sama wanted me to give this to you. It's the cell assignments for the attack."

Kiyoko quickly opened the document. It gave the names, ranks, and specialties of the four she would be working with. It also explained that each group was chosen specially for the mission, which was why they wouldn't be in their regular teams. She looked through the list and smiled when she read her own info.

**Shirotaka Kiyoko- team leader, special jounin (ANBU), age 15, bloodline limit allows her to manipulate earth element.**

_They gave me a last name_, she thought happily. It was her, Tenten, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Neji, and Ino. She didn't know either Shikamaru or Neji very well, but from what she had heard from Ino, Shikamaru was a lazy genius. She had fought against Neji in the chuunin exams, so she was quite familiar with his fighting abilities, but other than that, she didn't really know him personally. _This should be interesting_, she thought with a smirk. Kiyoko decided she should probably get the team together so they could practice, so she told Tenten to meet her at the training grounds in an hour before flying off in search of the others. When they were all at the training grounds, Kiyoko introduced herself and Suzune before explaining their mission. They spent the rest of the day training and practicing working together. At the end of the day, Kiyoko headed off to the ANBU headquarters. She had to attend nightly meetings to discuss strategies and go over new information. The following days were the same; get up, train, go to the meeting, go home, eat, sleep, repeat. On the evening before the attack, however, Kiyoko recieved a surprise visitor.

"Hey, Kiyoko!" Kiba called, catching up with her as she entered her apartment complex.

"C'mon, we're going to my house for dinner. My mom said that you shouldn't be alone the night before the big event, so she had me invite you over for dinner. Shino and Hinata will be there with their families, too, so go get changed quick and we'll get going." he explained, grabbing her arm and pulling her up the stairs to her apartment. She put on a lavendar yukata with violet floral designs and quickly brushed through her hair before heading off with Kiba. When they got there, his mother greeted her happily.

"Ah, Kiyoko-chan, so glad you could come. Good to see you," she said.

"Thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Inuzuka, I really appreciate it," Kiyoko replied.

They ate dinner, all the Hyuugas (main branch), Aburames, Inuzukas and their dogs, and Kiyoko, seated at the large table laughing and talking excitedly about the battle tomorrow. They all knew that the real reason for having this gathering of friends and family was because it could very well be the last time they saw each other, but even that couldn't dampen their spirits. It was as if they'd already won and were celebrating victory. When the end of the night was reluctantly announced, everyone went to their seperate homes to get a good night's sleep, for tomorrow was the big fight.

* * *

It was early, _really_ early, four a.m. to be exact, when Kiyoko and her team, along with the fifty-five other chosen shinobi, gathered outside the gates of Konoha. There was a feeling of hushed excitement among the ninjas, and the air buzzed with chakra. Once the radio head-sets were passed out to each team, Kiyoko took the opportunity to summon Suzune. The plan was that she and Tenten would search for the enemy by air, and Neji, Ino and Shikamaru would do the same on the ground. When either of them had located one of the twelve enemy cells, they would radio the others and go in for the attack. It wasn't long before Suzune spotted a group of rock ninjas sprinting through the woods towards Konoha. 

"Sky unit to ground unit, we found 'em," Kiyoko said into the headset, giving them the coordinates and telling Suzune to dive down at them as they ran though a field. As the giant falcon swooped down over the scattering earth-nin, Kiyoko and Tenten launched themselves off and began their attack. Tenten hurled a few dozen projectiles at the nearest ninjas, and grinned in satisfaction as two dropped to the ground. Kiyoko, meanwhile, was occupied with slashing at two opponents who had decided to gang up on her with her _Iwa Tsume no Jutsu_. She raked her talons across the neck of one of them with one hand, while shoving her claws into the stomach of the second one with the other hand. She heard Ino cry out and she turned around to see her being flung into a tree. Ino slumped to the ground.

"Kiyoko! Behind you!" shouted Tenten in warning. Kiyoko whirled around to see a particularily big shinobi run at her with a very large sword. She put up her blood-covered hands to brace herself, but he suddenly stopped, dropping his sword and bringing his hands together in the rat hand seal.

"What the hell?! I can't move!" he cursed.

"You alright?" asked Shikamaru, appearing from behind a tree. She nodded and left him to finish off the trapped enemy while she ran over to see if Ino was okay. Kiyoko was relieved to see that she was merely unconscious with a large gash on her forehead. She quickly looked around to count how many Earth ninjas were left. _I got two, Tenten got two, Shikamaru and Suzune got one. That's six, plus Neji and Tenten are each fighting one. Where's the ninth one?_

"Neji, there's still one left! Can you see them?" she called out. He looked around with his Byakugan.

"Hai, she's right there," he said, pointing to a group of trees, but then whirled around and pointed. "And there, and there, and over there, too...Shit, we're surrounded."

All at once, over a dozen identical, blonde-haired, rock kunoichi sprang from the forest at the six of them. Tenten threw some shuriken experimentally at one of them, and it disappeared in a puff of smoke and a small pop. _Kage Bunshins. Damn, this must be their jounin_.

"Suzune!" Kiyoko called, then leapt up into the air. She landed on Suzune's back and told her to go higher.

"Oi, guys, get Ino away from here. I don't want her to get caught in the crossfire," she said into her radio.

"Where the hell are you?"

"About a hundred and fifty feet above you. Listen, I'm gonna be coming fast, so make sure you're not on the ground."

She flipped off her radio and reformed the earth on her hands from her _Iwa Tsume_ into two long, curved blades. Once Suzune had flown up a few hundred feet, Kiyoko dove off in a swan dive, plunging headfirst towards the ground. She spread her arms out to her sides so her body was in a T position and began to spin. Using her chakra to keep her spinning, she rotated faster and faster until she couldn't see anything. Kiyoko closed her eyes and concentrated her chakra to her feet. When she got about fifty feet from the ground, she flipped herself around so she was going feet first. She sliced right through several of the clones before slamming into the ground with the force of a traincrash. Right as she hit, she released the chakra in her feet all at once so it created a huge shockwave upon impact. The ground rose like ripples in a pond, disappating clones left and right and leveling trees that got in the way. Kiyoko swiped an arm through the air, and the dust created from her attack cleared in an instant, revealing a single earth ninja laying on the ground. She was scraped up pretty badly, and clearly had quite a few broken bones, so Kiyoko finished the jounin with a single swipe of her kunai. She felt a brief pang of sadness for the girl as she slumped to the ground and wondered if she had any family to mourn her. No matter how many she killed, Kiyoko always felt guilty afterwards. She had taken something that she had no right to take. A life. But this was war, and therefor she had no time to dwell on emotions.

"Search the bodies for the explosives," Kiyoko ordered, wiping the girl's blood from her face. She found several exploding tags in the girl's pouch and let out a low whistle. _I'm impressed. These are the most powerful explosive seals I've ever seen. Just one of these could take out an entire building._ The others found a tag on each of the eight other bodies. Kiyoko took them and spread them out on the ground. There were fifteen altogether. Enough to take out an entire block.

"Where's Ino?" she asked.

"I put her up a tree," Shikamaru said boredly, pointing to a tall oak. Kiyoko rolled her eyes, though she had to admit it was pretty smart to put her up there. She got her down and set her on the ground. Pressing her hands against either side of her head, Kiyoko used her chakra to revive her. Ino stirred and opened her eyes. She sat up and looked around at the bodies littering the ground.

"Ah, damn. I missed it," she joked. Tenten laughed and told her that next time she wouldn't get out of fighting that easy. Suddenly, the ground trembled, and a second later they heard the unmistakable sound of a massive explosion off in the distance.

"Kiyoko!" Suzune shouted from the air, "It's Konoha! The east wall has been breached!"

* * *

**Shiori's Blurbs:**

Bwahahahahahaha! Evil cliffhangers! Sorry this one took so long. I was out of town (again). Anyways, thanks for reading. The next one will be the last one, so show some lovin' by _**reviewing**_! I'm gonna miss writing this series.


	10. Ch 10: The End

**Chapter 10: The End  
**

"Where's Ino?" she asked.

"I put her up a tree," Shikamaru said boredly, pointing to a tall oak. Kiyoko rolled her eyes, though she had to admit it was pretty smart to put her up there. She got Ino down and set her on the ground. Pressing her hands against either side of her head, Kiyoko used her chakra to revive her. Ino stirred and opened her eyes. She sat up and looked around at the bodies littering the ground.

"Ah, damn. I missed it," she joked. Tenten laughed and told her that next time she wouldn't get out of fighting that easy. Suddenly, the ground trembled, and a second later they heard the unmistakable sound of a massive explosion off in the distance.

"Kiyoko!" Suzune shouted from the air, "It's Konoha! The east wall has been breached!"

The five shinobi didn't need to be told twice. They bolted towards Konoha as fast as their legs could carry them.

"We're splitting up from here, you guys," Kiyoko said to the others through the radios. "Good luck, and for Kami's sake, don't get yourselves killed on me. You guys know how much I hate paperwork."

"Don't you worry, there's no way some idiot rock ninja's gonna get me," Ino laughed.

"I'll hold you to it. Over and out," Kiyoko said, tapping her radio off. It would just be a distraction from here on out. She put on her ANBU mask, which was hanging loosely around her neck, since she was now on her own. Upon arriving at the breached wall, Kiyoko saw that a battle was already in full swing. Three giant snakes were also present. Anko had been right. Kiyoko decided to keep her distance. Snakes were _definately_ not her thing. She quickly surveyed the damage and let out a sigh of relief that besides the gaping hole in the wall, none of the surrounding builings were severely damaged. Which was good, because her apartment happened to be located near the east wall. She spotted a ninja about to be hit from behind, so she jumped in and delivered a kick to the attacker's jaw, sending him spiraling into a nearby building. Then she went to check on the shinobi she'd saved. His leg was already injured, which was probably why he hadn't deflected the attack himself. He was also very young, maybe ten or eleven. Probably a genin.

"You okay, kid?" she asked.

"Hai. Arigato, ANBU-san," he nodded. Kiyoko carefully rolled up his pantleg. "The name's Kiyoko. How deep is this cut on your leg?"

"I don't know. Pretty bad, though, I think," he said, wincing. Kiyoko pushed her mask up so she could see better. She wasn't as skilled in medical jutsus as Sakura or Ino, but she'd had to patch herself up enough times that closing a wound was an almost effortless task.

"So what's your name?" she asked as she began to seal the cut.

"Hiroko Sei."

"You're a genin, right?" she asked, trying to keep Sei's attention on something other than the wound. The more he tensed up, the harder it was to heal it. His eyes widened and he pointed behind her. "Watch out!"

He was referring to the earth ninja leaping at them with a pair of double-tipped spears. Kiyoko, however, had already sensed him. Without even looking up, she sent two large boulders into the air, then smashed them together, crushing the ninja between them.

"Cool!" exclaimed Sei. "How did you do that without any handseals?"

"Bloodline limit," she explained simply. "M'kay, you're good. Now go fight."

As the young boy hurried off to help protect his village, Kiyoko headed off as well. In no time she had slain a dozen or so ninjas, but it seemed there was two more for every one that went down. They just kept coming. Eventually, though, they were forced to retreat. Konoha had won.

"Yeah!" Kiyoko shouted, hugging the nearest leaf ninja, who just laughed and joined in cheering. That night, the whole of Konoha was in celebration. The sound of parties being thrown filled the streets, and everyone was happy. Kiyoko, however, did not join in the festivities. Though the extent of the damage to the village was only a few buildings, twenty-six leaf ninja had lost there lives that day. She wasn't exactly in the mood for partying. Instead, Kiyoko locked herself in her room in front of her easel with a blank canvas and her paints. She took her pencil and lightly began to sketch. Then she picked up a brush, a thick, wide bristled one, and dipped it in some watered-down, blue paint. She dragged the brush across the canvas a few times to create a dull, blue-grey sky. Kiyoko switched to a smaller brush and painted trees along the bottom. Then she began to paint a pair of wide, chesnut brown wings stretching to either side of the canvas. Between these wings, she drew not the body of a bird, but that of a familiar, white-haired, special jounin. Using her smallest brush, Kiyoko carefully painted the details of her face. She gave herself a happy, exhilerated look. When she finished, she signed her name and looked at the clock.

"I've been at this for five hours? No wonder my eyes hurt so much," she muttered to herself.

"It looks nice, though," stated an unexpected voice from behind her. Kiyoko jumped and turned around to see Kiba lounging on her bed. He was lying on his stomach, propped up on his elbows with his head in his hands. It was actually quite adorable.

"How long have you been here?" she asked, throwing a pillow at the dog-boy for scaring her like that.

"'Bout an hour. I was just dropping by to see what you were up to, but then I kinda got sucked into watching you paint," he admitted. "Why aren't you out partying it up like the rest of the town?"

"I'm not really in the 'partying it up' mood. Too much killing today for me to feel much like celebrating," Kiyoko shrugged. "Why aren't you out celebrating with your family?"

"Bah, my mom and sister are out getting drunk with some friends, and Akamaru's out running around town with the rest of the clan dogs," he stated.

"You wanna head down to Ichiraku's and see if the gang's there?" suggested Kiyoko.

"Yeah, sure. I'm actually really hungry," Kiba nodded, jumping up off the bed. They headed down to the Ichiraku Ramen Shop and found that Hinata and Shino were there. Kiyoko sat down next to Hinata and Kiba sat next to Shino. They talked and joked around for a while before Kiyoko announced that she was going home to get some sleep. As she laid in bed, she stared at the ceiling and thought about her life. _Now I know I made the right choice coming back to Konoha. I'll always be a tool; a tool called shinobi... but at least now I'm a willing tool. My life actually has meaning and purpose now. I must live and fight for those I love. I'm happy with my life._ Kiyoko smiled and fell asleep a moment later, dreaming of falcons and friends and forests with villages hidden in them. The next morning she attended the ANBU meeting like she always did. After the meeting, however, Tsunade pulled her aside and asked to speak with her for a moment in her office. Kiyoko obliged, curious as to what she wanted. The blonde sannin picked up a book from her desk and tossed it to her.

"A Bingo book?"

She nodded. "An Earth Country Bingo Book. Take a look at the latest addition to it."

Kiyoko curiously flipped through the pages until she got to the right one. She let out a sort of choked squeak.

**-------------------**

**Name:** Tsuchiketsueki Izumi, age 15

**Rank:** A-class missing-nin

**Wanted for:** treason, murder, and aiding an enemy country

**Bounty:** 1,300,000 yen; dead or alive

**Note:** goes by alias "Shirotaka Kiyoko"

**Authorized by the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure**

**--------------------**

"1,300,000 yen? Wow, that's a lot," Kiyoko said in amazement ((A/n: that's a little over $10,000 in American money)). Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound too surprised."

"I'm not. I knew that someone would eventually recognize me from Iwagakure and report me. I probably got picked up by a security camera when I was fighting Haru and my mask came off. I don't care though. Izumi was a fool," Kiyoko said bitterly. Tsunade nodded, apparently satisfied, and dismissed Kiyoko. The silver-haired ninja bowed respectfully and asked if she could borrow the book. Tsunade nodded and said she could keep it. Then she left and headed over to the training grounds for some practice with the team.

"Hey guys!" she called out as she approached. "Wanna see something funny?"

She showed them the Bingo Book entry and they all laughed and teased her about it. Kurenai told them all to get back to work after a minute or two, and they all groaned but complied. Kiyoko smiled and looked towards the east, where the sun was rising in a gorgeous blend of color. She took a deep breath of fresh, crisp, morning air._ I am Shirotaka Kiyoko, the White Falcon of Konoha..._

**-The End-**

* * *

**Shiori's Blurbs:**

Aw, it's over! Well, all good things must come to an end, right? Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read this, and a special thanks to everyone who has reviewed any of the chapters. Thanks for being there, it's been fun. By the way, I did a drawing of Kiyoko on my deviantart account: **http://www. deviantart. com/deviation/47957738/** (obviously without the spaces though). Go check it out!


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